The New Sunset: My Version
by Dewfrost
Summary: Impatient little me can't wait, as usual...so here it is the updated version of Sunset: My Version!
1. Prologue

**K...given the revelations of Twilight, I've decided not to do my Power of Three fic. It would just be way too off-track and hard to follow from what's really happening in the Warriors series. Instead I'll do this, an updated version of my original Sunset: My Version. There are some other Sunset predictions fics out there already...hope you all have time to read mine! **

The brown she-cat flattened herself against the rocks, dark amber eyes fixated on the flicker of movement in a dead bush. After several tense heartbeats, a rabbit hopped out, its large eyes glassy with paranoia as it glanced around, nose twitching. The she-cat was silent, her claws sinking deep into the stone to keep herself still. Her eyes never moved from her soon-to-be meal.

Suddenly twigs crackled as a huge tabby vaulted from one stone outcropping to another, yowling a challenge. Instantly the she-cat sprang, but the rabbit had already fled and her claws closed only on dust. She hissed in frustration. "Crag! Beetle-brain! Are you the leader of the cave-guards, or a to-be on his first hunt?"

"No, Brook." Another cat leaped from the stones, even bigger than the first. "Look."

The she-cat twitched her tail but turned her head towards where Crag was perched, glaring down into a small rocky valley. Her keen eyes caught something moving against the rocks, and there was a flash of dark gray fur, noticeable because of the tinge of red across it that Brook realized was blood. Her mud-slicked fur bristled and she meowed the name instinctively. "Stormfur?"

"He is back at the Cave of Rushing Water," meowed the second cave-guard, sounding confused.

Brook shook her head. "It looked like Stormfur..." She blinked down into the valley. The cat was inching his way across the rocks.

"That cat is not of the Tribe," Crag growled. "We should follow him and chase him out."

"Crag! Stoneteller would not approve. What reasons have we to think he means us harm? Sharptooth was the only creature that ever tried that, and that cat was certainly not Sharptooth," Brook replied sharply. She turned her eyes on the largest cat. "Talon?"

The massive tabby was still staring into the valley. "That cat was injured. I saw it in how slow he moved. He will not survive long."

"Then he is not the Tribe's concern," meowed Crag, lifting his tail. "Come. We must hunt elsewhere. All prey has been frightened from here."

"Crag!" meowed Brook sharply. "We must help the cat, especially if he is injured."

Talon opened his mouth, but before he could say anything there was a grating of stone upon stone and the rocks beneath the unknown cat fell away. With a yowl he plummeted out of sight, taking a piece of the rock valley with him.

Brook's eyes widened, and she cried out, "Stormfur!"

Talon and Crag both started to stop her, but she dodged past them and leaped into the valley. Nimbly she bounded from rock to rock, avoiding the places where the ground tumbled away. The cat had fallen through one of them and disappeared into darkness. Brook balanced at the edge of the pit, her claws gripping the stones, and sniffed the place.

"What is the scent?" asked Talon.

Brook let out a sigh of relief. "It is not Stormfur…not any cat of the Tribe."

"Good," meowed Crag. "Then let us leave."

"Wait." Brook's ears pricked up, her eyes widening. "This scent…it is the scent of the Clans!"

**Also...I've just finished my second day of school. I like writing fanfictions, but school and my novel have to come first, so my updates might be a little slow. I'll write as fast as I can, though! **


	2. Chapter 1

**NEW CHAP! -gets way too excited due to the fact that it's Labor Day and she does not have to go to school- Anyway. It's Bramble's POV (I decided to do him for this fic)...enjoy!**

"Clan scent?" Firestar repeated Brook's words. "Are you certain?"

"Yes." It was Stormfur who answered. "I went to see for myself. It was Clan scent; more than that, Firestar. It was my father's scent."

_Graystripe_, thought Brambleclaw from where he stood beside Squirreflight, listening to the two cats of the Tribe talk. _But is he still alive?_

The ThunderClan deputy had disappeared many moons ago, stolen by Twolegs while they were still living in the old forest before moving to the land around the lake. Most of ThunderClan thought Graystripe dead, but Firestar had refused to give up hope. He hadn't named a new deputy yet, and every cat of ThunderClan knew that he wouldn't think of Graystripe as part of StarClan until he saw the body for himself.

Brambleclaw nervously unsheathed his claws. He wanted to be Firestar's deputy; he wanted it more than anything. But if Graystripe was alive, there was no chance of that happening anytime soon. Then again- if Brook and Stormfur had come to tell Firestar that his friend was dead, Firestar would be forced to name Graystripe's replacement.

_And why should it be me? _he told himself. _I haven't even had an apprentice, and the warrior code clearly says that the deputy has to have had one._

There were other reasons too, like the fact that he was Tigerstar's son. No matter all that had happened between Brambleclaw and Firestar, the dark tabby could never believe that his Clan leader could really look at him without seeing the image of his father. It was something that he had come to accept- up until recently, when he had begun to question how similar he was to Tigerstar.

_Am I really as ambitious as him?_

Brambleclaw had been so involved with his thoughts that he had missed Firestar's reply, and as he glanced at his leader he saw a raw look of mingled excitement and fear. Stormfur nodded to him. "It was definately Graystripe. I tried to follow his scent, but he had fallen down the mountain. He could be anywhere now, outside of Tribe territory."

Firestar's tail drooped, his eyes hollow. "So you don't know where he is?"

"No," meowed Stormfur sadly, but then his amber eyes flickered with hope. "But we know he's alive, or was, and that's something."

"Yes," Firestar agreed. His claws dug into the ground, and Brambleclaw knew that he wanted nothing more than to go looking for his friend right away. "But why have you come?"

Stormfur opened his mouth, but quickly closed it and turned away, grief flaring in his eyes. Brook pushed her head against his shoulder and looked nervously at Firestar.

"Stormfur...Stormfur thought that the Clans should know about this," she meowed. "The freed water season comes late in Tribe territory, and there is much snow. Injured cats do not live long without shelter."

Brambleclaw watched as a shudder ran through Firestar's body at the news. Sandstorm padded up beside him, touching her nose to his ear in comfort and turning to face the Tribe cats. "Perhaps it's better to discuss this later, Firestar," she mewed quietly.

The flame-colored tom nodded instantly, gazing around at his Clan. "Yes," he meowed. "Stormfur, Brook, will you stay so that we can decide what to do? We're not exactly in the best condition." He flicked his tail, displaying the destroyed camp behind him, stunned grief shadowed in his expression.

The Tribe cats dipped their heads. "Of course," meowed Stormfur.

At his words, Brambleclaw suddenly became aware of his wounds. Brook and Stormfur had arrived just as badgers had been chased out of the ThunderClan camp, and there was not a cat in the clearing that didn't bear the signs of the attack. Sootfur's broken body lay in the middle of the camp, his brother Rainwhisker crouched over him with raw grief in his eyes. Across the clearing Thornclaw lay still, his eyes bright with pain as he licked at a gash on his shoulder. Even worse was when Leafpool, ThunderClan's medicine cat, appeared from the nursery, dragging a limp form with her. It was Cinderpelt.

"Cinderpelt." The whisper rose from more than one cat, and Brambleclaw heard an elder wail. The she-cat had been ThunderClan's medicine cat since Brambleclaw's days as a kit, and, before that, Firestar's first apprentice. Her wisdom had been acknowledged by even the fiercest of the elders, and she had been well known throughout all the Clans. Brambelclaw felt like the earth was unsteady beneath his paws at her absence. How could she be gone?

Firestar stared at the smoky gray body, his green gaze glassy. "No," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "It can't be."

Leafpool dropped her mentor, turning around to face her father. "She died protecting Sorreltail while she was having her kits," she meowed. "They wouldn't have survived without her."

The Clan leader dipped his head slightly. He stared at his paws for a long moment, in which every cat in the Clan turned to look at their leader, wondering how long it would take him to recover from this new blow. Finally Firestar looked up, heaving a sigh. "ThunderClan will never forget Cinderpelt. She carried us through the fire and the attack of the dog pack, as well as our move the old forest. But I know that she would not want us to sit and grieve when there is still work to be done…" His voice trailed off for a moment, and then he fixed his daughter with a firm look. "Leafpool. Are you here with us to stay?"

Brambleclaw blinked. Leafpool had recently run away from ThunderClan, turning her back on everything she knew to, live with Crowfeather, whom she had fallen in love with. Medicine cats weren't allowed to have mates or kits- let alone from other Clans- and the couple had run away to escape that. After such a bold move, Brambleclaw was shocked to see her return.

Leafpool met her father's gaze, though she shuffled her paws nervously. "Yes," she meowed. "I'll stay if you'll have me, Firestar. I did love Crowfeather, and I won't deny it, but the forest is my home, and I could never be anything but a medicine cat."

"You left the Clan." Mousefur spoke from outside the elders' den, her words rough but not cold. "You betrayed the warrior code. Are you loyal?"

Brambleclaw's fur bristled in surprise at an angry hiss beside him. Squirrelflight, limping heavily, made her way over to the old brown she-cat. "Leafpool is loyal," she growled. "She always has been. That's why she came back."

"And she is our only medicine cat." Longtail, though blind, looked at Leafpool as if he could really see her. "How can we turn her away?"

A ripple of agreement passed through the cats, and Leafpool's amber eyes flashed with relief. Firestar nodded. "It's decided, then," he meowed. "Welcome back, Leafpool. I'm glad you're safe."

His words were spoken frankly, but they carried a strength that surprised Brambleclaw. He glanced at his former mentor, seeing him for a moment as a worried father instead of the wise and powerful Clan leader that he always thought of him as.

Squirrelflight padded over to her sister, touching her muzzle with her own and murmuring a few words that Brambleclaw couldn't hear. Leafpool's eyes were hard and cold with sorrow as she replied, and then she disappeared, down into the cleft where the medicine cat herbs were. Brightheart followed her, and Squirrelflight looked after them for a moment before turning abruptly and heading towards Brook and Stormfur. The Tribe cats still stood at the mouth of the stone hollow. Brambleclaw followed her, limping on one shoulder.

"What happened here?" Stormfur's words were full of disbelief as he gazed around at the injured cats.

Squirrelflight shook her head. "Badgers. They were angry that we moved in on their territory, and they grouped together and attacked. It's thanks to WindClan that we survived at all."

"We might have been able to make it without Onestar's help," Brambleclaw pointed out as he came up. "ThunderClan has always fought its own battles before."

Though his tone was neutral, Squirrelflight gave him a dark look. "Without WindClan, more cats than just Sootfur and Cinderpelt would have died."

Brambleclaw shook his head, too tired to argue with her right now. As if he could sense the tension in the air, Stormfur quickly intervened. "How are all of you? Tawnypelt and Crowfeather?"

As he spoke the WindClan cat's name, his eyes drifted over to where Leafpool was treating Brackenfur and Cloudtail, a sort of dumbfounded disbelief in his gaze that Brambleclaw shared. _Who would have ever thought that Leafpool could fall in love with that prickly hedgehog? And how could Crowfeather fall in love again, after Feathertail...?_ _How could he forget?_

Squirrelflight answered Stormfur's question. "They're all fine. RiverClan, too. The Clans are finally settling in."

"That's good," Stormfur meowed. He looked around, confessing, "I thought for a while that I would never get to see the place StarClan intended as our new home." He sighed. "Though I wish I didn't have to come with such bad news."

Brook nodded in solemn agreement, and Squirrelflight meowed comfortingly, "Don't worry; we'll find Graystripe. Firestar won't give up hope."

"But maybe it's foolish to not at least consider that he's dead," Brambleclaw mewed. "I mean, we've all been in the mountains. How could he ever survive on his own? We barely survived ourselves, and that was with the Tribe's help."

Squirrelflight flashed him another angry look. Stormfur stared from one to the other, clearly surprised by the tension between them. He cleared his throat. "Stoneteller's sent out parties of cave-guards and prey-hunters to look for Graystripe. No one's found anything yet, but they haven't found his body, either, so we can assume nothing." His tail lifted hopefully, and he shook himself, eager to change the subject. "So how are you two? Squirrelpaw, don't tell me you're still an apprentice!"

"No," she meowed proudly. "I was made a warrior as soon as we arrived at the lake. I'm Squirrelflight now!"

"A warrior," repeated Brook, turning her head to Stormfur. "No longer a to-be?"

"That's right," meowed Brambleclaw, surprised at the surge of pride that went through him as he glanced at Squirrelflight. He had thought that things were over between them, that there was no way she could understand him...but he couldn't forget what he had once felt for her.

_Or still do? _The thought was no more than a whisper among his swarming thoughts, and he pushed it away, looking at Stormfur. "How's life in the Tribe?"

"Good," replied the former RiverClan cat. "It was difficult for a while, of course, but the Tribe isn't that much different from the Clans, really. You just have to get used to it."

Brambleclaw twitched his tail. He was glad to know that his old friend was happy, but found it hard to believe that the cold stone of the mountains could ever compensate for the warm moss nests and undergrowth of the Clan forests. Squirreflight looked as if she was thinking the same thing, but for once she didn't say anything.

Brook nodded. "Stoneteller wishes the Clans good hunting in their new home," she meowed. "The Tribe of Rushing Water has not forgotten their friends in the Clans. Nor Feathertail."

The name was spoken softly, and Brambleclaw felt the now-familiar stab of pain as he remembered the beautiful and gentle she-cat that had died saving them all. He half-turned around, looking towards Leafpool, who was placing cobwebs on a gaping wound on Whitepaw's shoulder. She looked nothing like the RiverClan she-cat, but there was a kindness in her gaze that was reminiscent of Feathertail's. Was that why Crowfeather loved her? Did she remind him of the love he'd lost?

"Would you like some fresh-kill?" Squirrelflight offered. "The journey must have been hard."

"We don't look nearly as bad off as you two," Stormfur replied, glancing over their many wounds. "Go and get yourself treated. Brook and I will rest." Brook nodded her head in agreement, eyes warm.

The two Tribe cats turned and padded to the far corner of the clearing, leaving Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw alone. Catching his friend's eye, Brambleclaw couldn't help wondering if he'd done it on purpose, and he half-expected Squirrelflight to deliver a stinging remark as he twisted his head to lick at the bites on his flank. Instead, the she-cat sat down to tend to her own wounds, heaving a sigh.

"I'd wondered if I'd ever see Stormfur again," she meowed quietly, more to herself than to any other cat. There was a wistful note in her voice as she added, "He seems happy."

"He must be," Brambleclaw replied. "He left everything he knew for the Tribe, and he must have been certain about his decision before he did it." _He couldn't leave Brook; he loved her,_ he added to himself.

He looked up at Squirrelflight, who was too busy tending to her wounds to notice, remembering the night Stormfur had left. She had been upset then, and Brambleclaw had wondered if she had thought of it as losing more than just a friend. Her soft reply came to his mind now, as clear as before. _My heart is with you, Brambleclaw, don't you know that?_

It wasn't anymore. Even now her green eyes looked across the clearing, her tail waving in a weary greeting to Ashfur. The sight of the gray tom made Brambleclaw grit his teeth. How come everything had to be so wrong between them? Why didn't she just understand that he still cared for her, no matter what he did with Hawkfrost? He would never be his father; why couldnt she see that?

Pain clouded his eyes, but it wasn't just from his physical wounds. Why should she trust him and Hawkfrost anyway, when Brambleclaw knew very well how ambitious his brother was; how much he wanted to be a leader? He would never be as power-hungry as Tigerstar, and Brambleclaw believed that, but Hawkfrost also thought that his father had the right ideas in seeking power. Hawkfrost wanted to be a cat of remembrance. He didn't think it was worth it to be part of the Clans if he wasn't making some difference, having some influence over other cats and doing something that mattered. And was that so bad?

Brambleclaw looked across the clearing to where Firestar sat, impatiently letting Brightheart look over his wounds. Grief and hope mingled in his eyes as his gaze flickered in between Cinderpelt's body and the two Tribe cats that lay together at the far side of the stone hollow. He wanted more than anything to have Graystripe back, his friend and loyal deputy since he arrived in the clans as a kittypet. Graystripe was a great deputy, his leader's oldest friend, and one of the best warriors in the forest.

But as his mind turned to his dreams of greatness, Brambleclaw knew what he wanted. He wanted to be deputy, he wanted Graystripe to not return, and for Firestar to finally accept that. He wasn't sure whether to be afraid or relieved at the realization, but when Squirrelflight turned towards him, a flicker of warmth in her bright green stare, he found that he could not look at her.


	3. Chapter 2

**Guess what? SCHOOL RULES. Ha, I forgot how much I loved seeing my friends...anyway, sorry for the long wait, but school also comes with geometry homework. The usual danke to Dewflower, and enjoy Leafy's POV!**

Leafpool felt the eyes of many cats burn holes in her pelt as she pressed cobwebs onto Sanstorm's wounds. She carefully avoided anyone else's gaze, feeling her fur bristle under the scrutiny. Firestar had let her come back to ThunderClan, but it would be a while before this whole incident was behind them.

_What do they think of me now?_

"Leafpool," She jumped at Sandstorm's voice, and as her mother turned her head, the medicine cat managed to meet her gaze. "Leafpool, I'm glad you're all right."

"I was never in any danger," Leafpool mumbled.

"We didn't know that," Sandstorm replied. She sighed. "Oh, Leafpool, why didn't you just _tell _us? How could you be so mousebrained to wander off like that?" Her last words were sharp, reminding Leafpool of Squirrelflight.

"I didn't know what else to do," she meowed. "Cinderpelt had found out about Crowfeather, and I thought...I didn't know what to think." She shook her head. "I'm sorry."

Sandstorm reached up, touching Leafpool's ear with her tail. "You came back. That's the important thing. I'm just glad you're all right. Are you going to staying with the Clan now?"

Leafpool swallowed, uncertain of what to answer. She knew that there was nothing else for her to do- she was ThunderClan's only medicine cat now, and from her brief stay in the hills above the Moonpool she knew that, and even though Crowfeather would be with her, she would always miss Clan life. And yet, how could she stay here? Every heartbeat that passed made her miss the WindClan tom even more. She loved Crowfeather, but she couldn't tell Sandstorm that.

"I'm staying," she mewed steadily. For a moment she wondered if her mother would believe her, but Sandstorm nodded briefly and then turned her head. Worry clouded her gaze as she looked towards Firestar. He sat silently, his head on his paws, staring at something neither of them could see. "He can only think about Graystripe," she mewed in an undertone. "He would have followed Stormfur and Brook back to the mountains to search for him if I hadn't stopped him."

Leafpool chewed marigold leaves, murmuring around them, "The Clan should be his first priority now," She gestured around the torn clearing with her tail. "It will take a long time to build all this back up."

"I know," meowed Sandstorm. "But how can he think of anything but Graystripe, when he finally has news that he's alive?"

_Or was. _The medicine cat shook her head as she applied the leaves to Sandstorm's shoulder and flank. "What can he do? Search the mountains himself?"

Sandstorm snorted. "If I know him, he'll try." She turned her head to look into her daughter's eyes. "You are our full medicine cat now, Leafpool, and since he has no deputy, you're the one who must give him advice. Make sure that he knows what to focus on."

"I...Cinderpelt..." Leafpool's shocked words trailed off as she stared at the torn body of her former mentor in the middle of the clearing. Brackenfur had detached himself from Sorreltail and her kits and sat next to her, his tail touching his sister's smoky gray fur, pain and grief clear in his expression. When he caught Leafpool's eye he bowed his head, making Leafpool blink in surprise. She had come back expecting to be punished, or even exiled, but her Clanmates showed her more respect than they ever had.

Sandstorm was still looking at her, and she forced herself to nod. "I'll try," She added, "You're done."

Her mother got to her paws, stretching experimentally. "That's better, Leafpool. Thank you." For a moment she touched her nose to Leafpool's muzzle. "I lost you once before to Twolegs," she meowed softly. "Then I began to give up hope that you would ever come back. I knew better this time."

Before Leafpool could respond she padded away towards Sootfur's body. The medicine cat was left standing alone. Why was everyone so sure that she was going to return? Did they think her that loyal, or did they just not believe that she could love Crowfeather that much?

_I did love him. I still do._

She sighed, grasping her herbs in her jaws and padding back towards the nursery. Daisy, the former kittypet that ThunderClan had taken in, was sitting at the entrance with Cloudtail at her side. She looked around nervously, and Leafpool heard her whisper, "Are you certain all the badgers are gone?"

The white warrior's tail touched her shoulder. "Yes," he meowed. "It would be impossible for those stupid creatures to hide, anyway."

Daisy nodded, bending her head to give Hazelkit a lick. Leafpool glanced over the kittypet and her kin; they had escaped too quickly to come to any harm. She started towards Cloudtail, but he shook his head. "I'm okay, Leafpool. Go look at Sorreltail first."

The medicine cat nodded, slipping past him into the nursery. Sorreltail's warm amber eyes opened drowsily in the darkness, blinking as she recognized her visitor. "Hello, Leafpool."

"Hi," she replied, coming closer. "How are you?"

"Just tired," Sorreltail mewed, dipping her head to nudge a kit back into place. "Other than that I'm fine. My kits..."

"They're perfectly healthy," Leafpool assured her, bending down to inspect them. There were three she-kits and one tom. There was one tortoiseshell, like Sorreltail, and another she-kit the same ginger as their father, Brackenfur. The remaining she-kit was light gray, and the tom had a short white pelt.

"They're beautiful," mewed the medicine cat softly.

"They are," Sorreltail agreed fondly. Her eyes lingered lovingly over her litter for a few heartbeats before she looked up at her friend. "How's the rest of the Clan, Leafpool?" she asked. "Brackenfur was saying the Stormfur and a Tribe she-cat was here. I told him that he was dizzy from losing too much blood."

Leafpool let out a _mrrow _of laughter. "No, they're here," she assured her. "And they've brought news of Graystripe. He might still be alive."

"That's great." Sorreltail's words were faint, and Leafpool realized that she was too tired to take in what she was saying. The medicine cat pawed her herb supply closer, looking for poppy seeds. "You should be sleeping, Sorreltail."

"No," the queen meowed quickly. "I'm okay, I want to know how the rest of the Clan is." She bowed her head. "I know about Cinderpelt...I'm so sorry, Leafpool."

"She died protecting you," Leafpool replied. "She gave her life for ThunderClan." Pain stabbed at her like thorns even as she spoke, and she felt herself sway on her paws. She shook herself. "It's not only Cinderpelt, Sorreltail. Sootfur died, too."

"Sootfur." Sorreltail repeated her brother's name blankly, as if not realizing. Then the grief registered in her eyes. "No. Oh, Sootfur. I should have been there..." She bowed her head, and was actually making to get to her paws before Leafpool forced her back down. "Sorreltail! You must sleep now. Your kits need you. There is nothing any cat can do now."

"I should have been there," Sorreltail repeated stubbornly, though her struggles were weak beneath Leafpool's grip. "I should have..."

"You were having your kits," Leafpool meowed. "There was nowhere else you could have been. No one blames you, Sorreltail. It wasn't your fault."

Sorreltail stared bleakly at the nursery wall. "Why did it have to happen, Leafpool? Why did they have to attack us?"

Leafpool took a breath, remembering what Midnight had told her and Crowfeather when they had met her outside Clan boundaries. "They were angry that we took their territory," she mewed. "They wanted it back." She bent her head, nosing one of Sorreltail's kits back in place as the tortoiseshell queen shook her head. "This was worse than any battle we've ever fought before. Our camp is destroyed, and two cats have died…my brother, and a medicine cat, of all things!"

"Maybe it was better this way," Leafpool suggested slowly, and when Sorreltail looked at her in astonishment, she explained, "It's better that we fought badgers than the other Clans. We've come so far from the old forest; made so many friends. We don't want to undo all that. And besides-" she motioned toward the small heaps of fur surrounding Sorreltail's stomach- "we must look to the kits. They will replace what we have lost."

"It'll be moons before these four are warriors, and I'll be a burden on the Clan until then," Sorreltail growled. "It would have been better if there had been no battle at all. Then Sootfur and Cinderpelt wouldn't have died." She scuffed at the moss with a forepaw and added, "I would have died too if it hadn't been for you, Leafpool. Thank you."

The medicine cat felt a hot flush creep through her fur. "You shouldn't be thanking me," she protested. "I should have been here the whole time. I shouldn't have run away at all."

Sorreltail waved her tail, her eyes suddenly bright. "No," she meowed. "Look, I know what it's like to be in love. If the only chance I had to be with Brackenfur was to run away with him, I would do it. And if I heard that we had to come back, and couldn't be together once we did it...well, I don't know if I would be able to. But you did. That's loyal; more loyal than any other cat could be."

"It wasn't like that," Leafpool meowed. "It was all so quick; I wasn't even thinking about what I was doing."

"You still did it." Sorreltail's voice was stubborn but somewhat distant as she placed her head on her paws. "Never mind, Leafpool. Think what you want. But I'm going to sleep now."

Her eyes closed, and Leafpool had no choice but to pad back out into the main camp, blinking against the sunlight. Heads still turned to look at her, cold, accusing eyes mixed with understanding stares. Leafpool looked at her paws, only to jerk her head up when a cat called her name. Brightheart was padding towards her, heavily injured but triumphant.

"All the cats have been treated," the warrior reported. "I think everyone will be fine. Rainwhisker has a couple of nasty gashes, but as long as he takes it easy they'll heal."

Leafpool nodded, relieved. Brightheart went on nervously, "Leafpool, I know you're the medicine cat. I'm not one, and I don't think I'll ever be. If you don't want me helping, it's okay."

As she spoke her one good eye drifted over to where Cloudtail sat with Daisy, his white fur bristling as he leaned over her kits to examine them. Leafpool blinked sympathetically at her, despite how bitter she'd been that Brightheart had been taking over duties before she'd left with Crowfeather. "No, Brightheart, it's very welcome. I wouldn't be able to do it all myself. And-" she gestured in Cloudtail's direction- "you can keep helping me until Cloudtail puts his head back on and comes crawling back to you."

Brightheart let out a _mrrow _of laughter, though her good eye held her doubt. "Thanks, Leafpool."

She padded back towards where most of the warriors gathered, leaving the medicine cat alone again. The clearing was quiet as cats rested, exhausted from the attack and still in shock from the news of Graystripe. Firestar shared tongues with Sandstorm, but as Leafpool watched, he got up and padded over to Brook and Stormfur, most likely quizzing them about everything they had seen of Graystripe. Sandstorm looked after him, rolling her eyes in Leafpool's direction.

_She's right, _thought the medicine cat. _He's obsessed with finding Graystripe. He hasn't even said anything about the badger attack to the Clan yet!_

Still, she couldn't bring herself to go talk to him about it, as Cinderpelt would have done. What right had she to question what her leader- and father- did? She had just betrayed the warrior code, as well as the oaths of the medicine cats herself. There was no way that he would listen to her. Did he even trust her anymore?

As she watched, though, Firestar got to his paws, half-leaping and half-dragging himself to the Highstone. He cleared his throat, calling the cats to him, even though there was little need. Everyone was already waiting for him to speak.

His words came slowly, but they were steady enough to reassure Leafpool. "A terrible thing happened to us today. We have lost two cats, one of them our medicine cat. It will be a while before things are the same again."

He paused, his gaze raking the shredded warriors' den and the deep marks the badger claws had left in the dirt, as well as the wounds that lay on every cat. There was anguish in his eyes, as if he felt the pain of all his warriors himself. "Still, our Clan survived. And this is now truly our home, as we have fought well for it."

Yowls of agreement punctuated his words, and a warmth filled Leafpool as she saw that, tired as they were, her Clan had not lost its spirit. Firestar nodded along. "As for the news of Graystripe…Stormfur, Brook, would you be willing to stay a night or two while we recover and decide what to do?"

The gray tom dipped his head from the edge of the group. "Of course, Firestar. We wouldn't have been able to return tonight, anyway, after traveling all day."

Firestar twitched his tail. "Good." For another moment he surveyed his cats. "Midnight has assured us that the badgers will not return…but I'd like a patrol to make sure that there aren't any rogue ones still sniffing around our territory. Who is strong enough to go?"

Cloudtail, Brambleclaw, and Spiderleg leaped up at once, and Firestar flicked his ears. "Cover as many of the borders as you can- but come back when you're tired out. StarClan knows we can't afford any warriors falling off their paws from exhaustion."

The three toms dipped their heads, and Spiderleg spoke up. "Should we carry a patrol into RiverClan and ShadowClan, too, to warn them about the badgers? It couldn't have just been ThunderClan that they were trying to attack."

Brambleclaw immediately spoke against this. "We don't have the time," he pointed out. "And anyway, Midnight said that the badgers would retreat now."

Mousefur nodded in agreement. "We don't have the energy to trek around the entire forest. Why should we risk our necks for the other Clans?"

Firestar paused, thoughtful, and then lifted his head. "Brambleclaw and Mousefur are right," he decided. "We can't afford patrols into ShadowClan and RiverClan. We're in no shape to be attacked over borders, anyway. Just check our own land."

Cloudtail nodded and set off, limping in the lead of the two younger cats. Firestar waited until they were gone before he dismissed the Clan, leaping down from the Highledge. He crossed the clearing slowly, and though it was just barely sunhigh, he touched his nose to Cinderpelt's cold form, settling beside her to wait out the rest of the day and night. Brackenfur and Rainwhisker joined him, and then as the day continued to wear on, others got to their paws to whisper their last words to their Clanmates or sat beside them for the vigil.

The patrol returned at nightfall, reporting that all the badgers had left the territory. Leafpool was relieved, but as she eyed the thorn tunnel she couldn't help wishing that Firestar had agreed to patrols in other Clans. Maybe he would have sent one to WindClan, too, to make sure that they were all right…and she could go, and might have seen Crowfeather.

_I can't see him anymore. It's over._

But it wasn't, and that fact kept pounding through her mind, never letting her rest. When she couldn't stand it anymore she herself crossed the clearing to her mentor's limp form. Grief settled on her shoulders, weighing her down so that it seemed like she couldn't even move. For a while Leafpool simply stared at Cinderpelt, as if she could catch her moving if she looked long enough. She couldn't be dead, it wasn't right.

And yet her body was cold when Leafpool touched her nose to it, her eyes shut and a look of peace upon her face. The young medicine cat swallowed painfully as she lay down, burying her muzzle in her mentor's pelt and whispering her words so that no one else could hear them.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left with Crowfeather, I should have listened to you…I'm meant to be a medicine cat, I know that now. I'll be lucky if I'm ever half as good as you are."

The words seemed hollow and empty, as if they didn't mean enough. Leafpool sighed, closing her eyes tightly shut. It seemed impossible that she'd ever actually be able to sleep, but fatigue won over by moonhigh, and the pain of her wounds grew fainter as she neared the fuzziness of dreams.

For a heartbeat Leafpool thought she caught Cinderpelt's deep, comforting purr, but when she pricked her ears, eyes opening a fraction, there was only silence. Leafpool closed her eyes again, pressing her side firmly against Cinderpelt's. Again she tried to fool herself into believing that it wasn't true, that Cinderpelt had been mistaken when she had said that she knew that she was going to die. She would wake up, and everything would be all right.

But the silence wore on without any interruption, and the cold feel of Cinderpelt's dead body against Leafpool made the truth seem all too real. She was dead, and a part of Leafpool had died with her.

**Review...pretty please?**


	4. Chapter 3

**New chap's up! Brambleclaw's POV...thanks very much to Dewflower for going over it, and also to everyone that reviewed this or any of my other stories. READ ON!**

Brambleclaw watched solemnly as the elders carried Sootfur and Cinderpelt's bodies out of camp just as dawn touched the sky. His legs felt stiff underneath him, and as he stretched, he felt his wounds sting despite Leafpool's healing herbs. Even with the bodies gone, the tattered clearing around him and the lingering scent of badger kept him from forgetting the battle. _Will it ever be the same?_

Brook and Stormfur were still sleeping at the edge of the stone hollow, clearly exhausted from their long journey the day before. Firestar was watching them with a misty look in his eyes as warriors began to creep from their dens, gathering around him. For half a heartbeat the flame-colored tom stared at them blankly, but he recovered too quickly for Brambleclaw to be certain of what he'd seen. When he opened his mouth, his orders were as brisk and certain as usual, his voice untouched by the tragic destruction around him.

"Brackenfur," he meowed, "Gather the apprentices and some warriors to see if you can get the thorn barrier back up. Gather supplies from the forest if you need to- but take old gorse or bracken, nothing that's just started to grow with newleaf. The forest needs it, and it'll be too soft anyway to be put to good use."

The ginger tom nodded instantly as Whitepaw and Birchpaw leaped towards him. Both young cats bore injuries from the fight, but seemed to have forgotten them in their enthusiasm to help.

"Cloudtail," Firestar went on. "Get a border patrol together to renew the scent marks. We checked for badgers yesterday- today be on the lookout for enemy patrols. It would be just like Blackstar or Leopardstar to try and take advantage of our injuries."

The white warrior dipped his head, blue eyes bright as Sandstorm and Rainwhisker joined him. They padded down the thorn tunnel with Brambleclaw looking after them, unable to push back a hint of pride for his Clan. They were still strong, even after the devastating attack.

"Brambleclaw." He turned his head at the sound of his name. "We need a hunting patrol. Make sure to get something for the queens. They're drained by all of this."

Brambleclaw bowed his head. "Yes, Firestar." He saw Spiderleg roll his eyes and resisted the impulse to bare his teeth at the younger warrior's scorn. What had he done wrong?

He deliberately went around the black warrior as he chose Thornclaw and Dustpelt to go with him, then hesitated before picking the last member of his patrol. Squirrelflight was sitting just outside the circle of warriors, miraculously without Ashfur. A quick glance around showed that the gray tom had joined his apprentice, Birchpaw, in rebuilding the thorn wall near the camp entrance. Brambleclaw tried not to show how pleased he was by this as he approached her.

"Do you want to join my patrol?" He chose the words carefully, knowing she'd immediately reject the offer if he made it sound like an order.

The ginger she-cat turned her head, clearly surprised- she hadn't forgotten the way he'd turned away from her yesterday. Still, her tail went up as she replied, "Okay."

"Can we get _on_ it, then?" asked Thornclaw, stretching his front paws out in front of him in mock boredom.

Squirrelflight's eyes flashed wickedly. "Sure. Why don't you try and keep up with me, then?" She launched herself towards the camp exit, answering Ashfur's _mrrow _of laughter with a twitch of her whiskers as she pushed past him out into the forest. Thornclaw leaped playfully after her, while Dustpelt followed more slowly, rolling his eyes. "They're going to fall into a fox den running around like that."

Brambleclaw walked with him, suddenly aware of the itching in his paws that urged him to run after Thornclaw and Squirrelflight. He reminded himself that that wasn't what a deputy would do. But was impressing Firestar the most important thing?

Squirrelflight would scoff at him if he told her that it was, but yet, why did he even care? Brambleclaw blinked as a memory flashed over him, one that he knew he could never share with any cat…except Hawkfrost.

It was a dream he'd had several moons ago, where he had met Tigerstar with Hawkfrost- and not for the first time, either. The first time had been just after they'd come to the land around the lake, still settling into the new territory. Then it had been a frightening encounter that he'd tried to forget, but the second time it was different. Tigerstar had been so wise, so understanding. He had known just want Brambleclaw wanted, and he made it seem so reasonable.

"What is a cat without power?" His father's voice was cool and full of knowledge, sliding into Brambleclaw's thoughts. "Where would we be without leaders and deputies? They are the cats that make decisions, who know what is best for their Clans. _You_, my sons, are smart and cunning, and you know the time to attack. You are to be deputies, and then leaders."

_How? _The question rose in Brambleclaw's mind before he could push it away. He wanted to be a deputy so much, but it wasn't possible. There were so many other warriors, and he hadn't even had an apprentice yet. Besides, Firestar had Graystripe.

_Or not. _

How could he even be thinking this way? Graystripe had been Firestar's best friend for a long time before he'd even been born. Surely Firestar couldn't accept him as dead….he wouldn't until he saw the body for himself.

"Brambleclaw!" Dustpelt's voice brought him sharply back to earth. The brown tabby narrowed his eyes. "Are you waiting for the mice to hop into your mouth? Let's get hunting."

"Yes," Brambleclaw agreed quickly. He blinked and looked around, noticing Squirrelflight's bright ginger pelt against the grass as she stalked something. He didn't see Thornclaw, but caught the tom's scent on the breeze- as well as rabbit.

Brambleclaw fell into the familiar crouch, stalking towards the smell. After a moment his eye caught the movement in the grass, and then he saw the white tail of the rabbit. The creature's head was up, nose twitching urgently as it paused. Brambleclaw felt his legs tense underneath him and launched himself forward.

Instantly the rabbit was scrambling away. Brambleclaw landed where his prey had been heartbeats before, and angered by his failure, he began to chase after it. The rabbit had retreated to his burrow before he'd gone more than a few foxlengths.

"Mousebrain! You won't catch a rabbit that way!" Squirrelflight jerked her head up, a shrew at her paws. Her tone was light, laughter dancing in her eyes, but Brambleclaw looked sharply away. An amused retort came to his head, and he would have said it, but before he could open his mouth the words came back to him:

_Is that what a deputy would do?_

Dustpelt was watching, one of Firestar's senior warriors, he reminded himself. He would probably give a report as to how the hunt went….and of course he would tell Firestar if Brambleclaw was wasting time.

The tabby warrior gave a curt nod. "I smell a mouse over here." He padded away, catching Squirrelflight's frustrated look after him.

The hunt carried on in silence after that. Though Brambleclaw regretted how things had gone with Squirrelflight, he was rewarded with the approving look Firestar gave him when he saw the catch they brought in after they got back.

"You hunted well today," he complimented the group. "Go ahead and rest- the apprentices will see that the elders and queens get their share."

Thornclaw and Dustpelt set off towards the warriors' den, and Squirrelflight, her tail flicking angrily in Brambleclaw's direction, stalked off to meet Ashfur on the other side of the clearing. Brambleclaw was looking after her when he heard a purr behind him.

"Don't worry about it." It was Cloudtail, amusement in his blue eyes. "She'll come around."

"I don't know," Brambleclaw mumbled, adding to himself: _She might have come around already, if it wasn't for me._

_How is it my fault? _He argued with himself._ She just doesn't understand! _

Cloudtail touched his bushy tail to Brambleclaw's shoulder, a rare gesture of warmth. "Hey, it'll be all right."

Brambleclaw blinked at him, not sure whether to be relieved or annoyed at the advice, and then realized who was missing. "Where's Brightheart?"

Cloudtail's gaze immediately darkened. "I don't know," he admitted. "She's never around anymore...always doing things for Leafpool. You'd think she's trying to be a medicine cat." He shrugged, and then padded away to meet Daisy outside the nursery before Brambleclaw could respond. The tabby stared after him, wondering how he could be so blind.

_Or am I just like that, with Squirrelflight?_

His gaze briefly met the ginger she-cat's across the clearing. Her green eyes were hard and cold, with no trace of the warmth they'd held this morning. Brambleclaw felt suddenly hopeless. It wasn't going to work, was it? Not when he seemed to rub her fur the wrong way every time he talked, and not when she didn't get that he wasn't like Tigerstar, and he never would be.

Not when she didn't trust him.

And then there was Ashfur, following Squirrelfight's stare and holding Brambleclaw's gaze with calm blue eyes that made the tabby unsheathe his claws. His skin crawled, and for several long heartbeats he considered throwing himself across the clearing to confront the gray tom. Then he took a breath, repeating the question from earlier to himself:

_Is that what a deputy would do?_

He turned around, padding towards the warriors' den. Slipping inside, he curled up in his nest, muzzle on his paws, thinking with his eyes tightly shut. He wanted to be deputy, but he wanted Squirrelflight, too. He missed her purr and her bright green eyes, the way she had used to sound so optimistic when he didn't know what to do.

Brambleclaw sighed. It seemed unfair that he couldn't keep his friendship with Squirrelflight and still try to prove himself to Firestar. What did she have against his ambition? It wasn't as if he had been any different back before they had come to the new forest. Or had he?

Brambleclaw's eyes closed tighter as he tried to remember. He didn't think he'd been so preoccupied with pleasing Firestar then- after all, he had gone to the sun-drown-place without the Clan leader's permission, something he couldn't imagine doing now. But that had been stupid and impulsive. He could have just told Firestar about the dream before he left.

_Is that what a deputy would have done?_

The question came back to him for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Brambleclaw opened his eyes as he considered it. He didn't know what a deputy would do...but was that even what he was asking himself?

_Do I want to know what a deputy would do...or what Tigerstar would do? _

**I do like reviews... :-)**


	5. Chapter 4

**I'm baaaa-aaack. Sorry this chap took so long, but I've been busy lately...anyway, Leafpool's POV, thanks for all the reviews (you guys are awesome, you know that, right?) and READ ON!**

The day seemed unfairly crisp and cool as Leafpool slid out of camp, squinting at the brightness of sunhigh. Small puffy clouds floated in the blue sky, everywhere in the forest showed signs of newleaf- soft green buds and newly opened flowers unfolded upon the cold forest floor. Leafpool plodded on without noticing. She almost wished that the day was as bleak as she felt on the inside- at least then she would be able to have an excuse for the way she felt.

It seemed wrong to be going to the Moonpool without Cinderpelt. Leafpool found herself falling into the slow lope she had always adopted around the limping she-cat, and was halfway through the forest before she realized she could travel faster. Even then she walked carefully, trying very hard not to go anywhere near the WindClan border. She didn't want to see anything that reminded her of Crowfeather...but she did want to see him, more than she ever thought possible.

_I can't._

She repeated the words over and over again to herself. She was a medicine cat. Spottedleaf had told her to follow her heart, and this is where her heart had taken her- back to her family, and back to the path she had walked since she was young. It was where she belonged. But if this was truly the path Starclan had set down for her, why did it not seem right?

She knew why. She knew every time his name was repeated in her head, and with every beat of her aching heart. She wasn't with Crowfeather, and things were never right when she was without him. But she couldn't be with the Windclan tom; and she couldn't see him. Not if she wanted to be a medicine cat, and she knew that she did. It was what she had wanted to do since she had been a kit, and it was what she had decided only three nights ago, in the nursery while Cinderpelt lay dying at her paws.

Lost in her own thoughts, Leafpool almost stumbled past the meeting place of the medicine cats without realizing it. She retraced her steps, scenting the air and catching the smell of all three of the others Clans, along with an achingly familiar trace of Cinderpelt's stale scent.

That was what it would always be: stale.

The others already waited for her under a thick gorse bush. As she pushed her way to join them, they all jerked their heads up awkwardly, and she realized with an uncomfortable wrench her stomach that they'd all been talking about her.

"Leafpool." At least's Mothwing's tone was still friendly as she padded over to twine her tail with Leafpool's. "You're late."

"Sorry. I guess I set off a little past sunhigh," Leafpool mewed. "But I'm here now."

"Yes." Littlecloud got up, looking over her with a hollow gaze. "Barkface told us about Cinderpelt already. I'm sorry."

"I know. Me too." Leafpool found that she couldn't look at the pain in the ShadowClan tom's expression. Littlecloud had always been close to Cinderpelt, ever since she had saved his life from sickness in the old forest, and first introduced him to the path of a medicine cat. Littlecloud bowed his head, closing his eyes in grief, clearly remembering his old friend.

The others gave him a moment of solemn silence before Barkface's rusty meow broke the stillness. "We should get going. And Leafpool-" She noted that his tone was cooler than it had once been- "you haven't my apprentice, Flightpaw."

A tiny she-cat sat beside him, so small that Leafpool hadn't noticed her before. Her dark amber eyes that were bright and wide against a flyway white pelt splashed with ginger. She nodded nervously to Leafpool, shuffling her paws as the ThunderClan medicine cat nodded her head in greeting. Flightpaw was eyeing her like she was something to be feared- was it the things that Barkface must have said, or she just couldn't believe that she was meeting someone who had betrayed the warrior and medicine cat codes so blatantly?

Leafpool fell back with Mothwing as they began to walk, facing her friend once they were far enough behind to be out of earshot. "So... what did Barkface say about me?"

"Oh, nothing special- only that he couldn't believe that Onestar and Firestar could be so stupid as to not kick you and Crowfeather out on the spot." Mothwing's eyes danced with mischief until she caught the dismay on her friend's face. "Oh, Leafpool, don't worry about it; this whole thing will blow over soon enough. And you know Barkface- he thinks every case of kitten cough is reason enough to believe that ShadowClan's old plague is upon us." She let out a _mrrow _of laughter that comforted Leafpool, but only slightly. After all, what did Mothwing know? She didn't believe in StarClan. How much did the warrior code and the medicine cat oaths really mean to her?

The golden she-cat was looking at her keenly, blue eyes searching.

"What?"

"So what was it like?" Mothwing asked wistfully. "Running away like that. Being in love."

Leafpool was taken aback by the question, and took a moment to think about it.

"It was scary." Her ears twitched. "Especially leaving, and thinking that I wasn't going to come back."

"If it was only scary you wouldn't have done it."

"I know. I did it because...because it was what I wanted to do. I would have done anything to be with Crowfeather. To be happy. I don't know how to explain it…it's just that it wasn't the running away that made me happy. It was what might happen because I did run."

"And the cat you were running with had a bit to do with it, I think," Mothwing purred.

Leafpool's ears flicked with embarrassment. "Well, yes." She stared at her paws. "So you don't care? You don't think it's bad that I betrayed the warrior code and abandoned ThunderClan?"

"No, Leafpool, of course not." Mothwing sighed. "I can't blame you. No one asks to fall in love. And anyway, those rules are so stupid. Why can't medicine cats have mates? Aren't we allowed to have feelings, just like normal warriors?"

A pang went through Leafpool's heart. Mothwing's words sounded just like the ones she had spat at Cinderpelt, when she had argued with her mentor after she had found out about her and Crowfeather. What had Cinderpelt answered?

"We're allowed," Leafpool meowed slowly. "But we're not supposed to. Our first loyalty should always be to the Clan, not to just one cat in it. It's not fair to all the others."

Mothwing twitched one ear thoughtfully. "I guess so," she shrugged. "But still. What's going to happen if a medicine cat takes a mate? It's not like it hasn't happened before, right?"

Leafpool blinked. She hadn't heard any stories about relationships that medicine cats had had with other warriors before...and even if there were, what were the chances that it would be with a medicine cat _and _a warrior from another Clan?

The thoughts were sharp like claws tearing at her from the inside. For several heartbeats she swayed on her paws. She waited for Crowfeather to press against her, steadying her- but he wasn't there. Of course he wasn't. She had turned away from him, chosen the solitary path of a medicine cat. It was the same choice she had made as a kit, after days of watching Cinderpelt mix her herbs and realizing that it was what she wanted to do too, more than anything. But now that her mentor wasn't here to guide her down the path, she felt lost. Whichever way she turned held only darkness and uncertainty, and even when she doubled back and retraced her steps, she couldn't find her way. Looking back the way she came, she couldn't help thinking that she had just wandered down the wrong path all over again.

&&&

The words from Flightpaw's ceremony rang in Leafpool's ears as she dipped her head, swallowing a few drops of water from the Moonpool. It burned down her throat, icy and crisp as new frost. Immediately she felt her eyes begin to close and heard the contented sighs of the other medicine cats as they found her way to StarClan. For a few heartbeats Leafpool's paws remained on the ground, and then everything gave way to blackness.

Leafpool floated through nothingness for several heartbeats, shivering from the lack of feeling in the still air. Then she felt ground beneath her paws, and forced her eyes open to find herself in a starry clearing, several cats standing over her. Warmth rose inside her as she recognized them. There was Spottedleaf, and Feathertail, beside another she-cat that looked so much like her Leafpool thought she had to be her mother, Silverstream. A little behind them was another cat, her pelt hidden in the shadows. Only when her calm blue eyes flared open, sparkling with starlight, did Leafpool recognize who she was.

"Cinderpelt!" Joy rippled through the medicine cat, warm as sunlight. It was her mentor, but she was different. She held herself evenly now, her old limp healed by death. Her blue eyes were bright with a kind of spirit that reminded Leafpool of a young apprentice, and shimmers of frost wove in her dark gray fur. She twitched her whiskers at Leafpool, taking a few steps forward to touch noses. "It's good to see you again."

Her voice was the same, and Leafpool purred louder. "Oh, Cinderpelt," she meowed, her words tumbling out, "I'm so sorry. For everything I did. I should have been there; then you wouldn't have died-"

"No." Cinderpelt spoke firmly, as if reprimanding her for making the wrong poultice. "There was nothing you could have done, Leafpool. I knew I was going to die a long time before you knew anything about it."

Leafpool nodded and swallowed, though she knew a part of her would never stop blaming herself for her mentor's death. She dropped her gaze to her paws. "I shouldn't be here," she mumbled. "I betrayed my Clan; everything I was ever taught, when I stayed with Crowfeather. I'm sorry."

"No, Leafpool." Spottedleaf's soft voice was as warm and certain as always. "You only followed your heart, which is all StarClan asks of you. The path you walk is full of twists and turns, and we don't expect you to see them all coming."

Her eyes were bright, but Leafpool couldn't meet them. She couldn't bear to see the affection that she knew she didn't deserve. She found herself turning to Cinderpelt, looking towards that cat she had relied on for so long. "I miss him," she whispered. "I shouldn't, but I do. So much. But I'm a medicine cat...I have to be a medicine cat. What am I supposed to do, when everything I try seems to be wrong?"

"You can't turn away now," Cinderpelt meowed. She stepped forward, her tail brushing Leafpool's shoulders. "You made your choice to stay with your Clan, and now you carry the weight of ThunderClan on your shoulders. I'm just sorry that I can't be there to help you bear it."

"But we will be here to guide you," Spottedleaf added. "StarClan hasn't left you, Leafpool. We never will."

Leafpool blinked. This wasn't the answer she wanted. She wanted to know what was right; what StarClan wanted her to do. She still wanted to be with Crowfeather- she knew that now- but she was ThunderClan's only medicine cat. She owed it to her Clan to fulfill her duties, to carry on the path she had chosen so long ago.

The StarClan cats were watching her, and she was startled by the raw sympathy in their eyes. It was as if they knew exactly what she was thinking, what she was going through.

"You can't help me," she realized.

"No." Feathertail looked down. "It is not for us to interfere, to make the choices you are meant to make. If we did that, would you really be free?"

"And we don't know what lies ahead," Spottedleaf added. "Your heart is too confused for us to see the outcome."

"And other things cloud the future," Cinderpelt growled. "You are not the only one with a troubled heart. There are still choices to be made, and some are not as wise as others

Leafpool's ears pricked. "What? What do you mean?" she meowed. "We fought the badgers and won...they won't come back, will they?"

As she spoke, a dark shadow passed over the clearing, as if a hunting bird from above had covered the moon. Leafpool shivered, crouching closer to the ground. When she looked up again, the StarClan cats had scattered, fleeing into the undergrowth.

"Wait!" she cried. "Tell me what you mean!"

She charged after Cinderpelt's scent, crashing through undergrowth as she tried to find her mentor again. Leafpool's flanks heaved as she turned left and right, skidding to a stop when blue eyes opened in the shadows in front of her. Cinderpelt spoke to her, her voice hollow and full of fear.

"Before there is peace, blood will spill blood, and the lake will run red."

"The prophecy," Leafpool whispered, as the familiar words rang in her ears. This wasn't the first time she had heard it…but it made even less sense now. Her heart thudded painfully and she blinked. When she opened her eyes, Cinderpelt was gone.

Slowly the clearing grew darker, the stars winking out one by one. Wind tore through Leafpool's pelt, making her shiver again. She spun around to see eyes watching her from the trees- but they weren't the wise, serene gazes of Leafpool's warrior ancestors. They were hollow, hungry eyes, piecing into the medicine cat like cold claws. She gasped, wheeling around and searching desperately for somewhere to run. The undergrowth crackled as the owners of the unfamiliar eyes advanced, coming to find her.

"Who are you?" Leafpool whispered.

Her words jolted her awake on the banks of the Moonpool, her eyes flaring open as a shock ran through her fur. But before she could really awaken the answer to her question came, whispered from the mouths of many cats, each one cruel and menacing, the sharpness of ice in their words.

"We hunt StarClan."


	6. Chapter 5

**Yet another apology for a late update...been busy, as usual. Thanks so much to everyone that reviewed and is still reading my story- the next chap's almost done, so I might be able to get it up sometime this week.**

Bright shafts of sunlight fought their way through the branches of the warriors' den. Brambleclaw woke up as the warmth touched his fur, his eyes flickering open in time to see Squirrelflight stand up on her nest, stretching luxuriously.

"Now this is the way to wake up," she meowed, stretching in satisfaction. "Sunlight in my fur..._not _ice on my whiskers."

Ashfur gave a purr of agreement as he stood up beside her. Brambleclaw pressed his nose further into the moss, rolling his eyes. The gray warrior was like Squirrelflight's shadow. Did he _ever _leave her alone?

"Come on, you great lump." Rainwhisker nudged Brambleclaw's flank. "We're on hunting duty."

"I'm up." Brambleclaw leapt to his paws, yawning. "Let's go."

He pushed his way out of the warriors' den before he could catch Squirrelflight's eye, Rainwhisker behind him. As they padded into the open clearing, the two warriors blinked against the bright sunlight. The clearing was already alive with activity, even though the dawn sun had just peeked above the horizon. Leafpool and Brightheart were talking in the far corner of camp, piles of berries and herbs in front of them. Not far away the elders gossiped, sunning themselves on flat rocks near the nursery, which Firestar was just leaving with Brackenfur at his side.

"The kits look fine and healthy," the Clan leader meowed, loud enough for the two toms to hear. "They'll be fine warriors in just a few moons."

"What about Daisy's kits?" Rainwhisker wondered aloud. He and Brambleclaw padded up to the two older toms. "They're getting older now, aren't they? Will they be apprentices?"

"I don't know," Firestar admitted. "It's Daisy's decision whether or not she wants her kits to live a Clan life."

"What?" Rainwhisker's voice was loud with disbelief. "You're going to let them stay here if they can't fight and hunt? ThunderClan can't support extra cats!"

Firestar silenced him with a firm look. "That's to be decided when Berrykit, Mousekit, and Hazelkit are six moons old."

"But you won't let them stay in ThunderClan if they're not going to live as warriors, are you?" Brambleclaw meowed.

The flame-colored tom twitched his tail. "You're right- ThunderClan can't support them if they don't help," he agreed. "But we can't leave them out to fend for themselves, can we?"

Brambleclaw opened his mouth to retort, but at that moment a warm gust of wind blew through the stone hollow. One of Leafpool's piles of herbs was caught in the breeze, and a berry rolled across the camp towards them. Leafpool broke away from Brightheart to chase after it, and as it rolled towards him Brambleclaw halted the berry with his paw. He nudged it towards the medicine cat as she skidded to a halt in front of him.

"Here you go," he meowed.

Leafpool picked up the berry without a word, leaping back to Brightheart as if she hadn't seen Brambleclaw, Firestar, or the other two warriors. Brambleclaw caught a glimpse of her eyes and was startled and confused by the fear and worry he saw there.

"What was that about?" Brackenfur asked no one in particular, watching her trot away.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Rainwhisker shrugged. "Leafpool's bound to be a bit jumpy after everything that's happened to her. Any cat would be."

"But she looked as if she was really frightened," Firestar meowed. He looked at his daughter, mingled worry and confusion in his gaze. "I don't know why...or at least, she hasn't told me why."

He sighed. Brackenfur and Rainwhisker exchanged looks, padding a few steps away. But Brambleclaw stayed by his leader's side. Something pricked at him to see Firestar so unhappy. He hadn't forgotten the old bond between them: mentor and apprentice. He touched his nose to Firestar's shoulder. "You're really worried for her."

Firestar glanced sideways at him. "Yes," he meowed softly. "I don't know what to say to her. I don't know what she was thinking, running off like that…but she came back, and she's loyal. I know that. It just seems like she herself doesn't."

" She's been through a lot; the whole clan can see that. She just needs time to feel welcome again," Brambleclaw looked at the ground, than at Firestar. "Perhaps Squirrelflight can talk to her."

"Yes," Firestar agreed. "I'll ask her about it."

His eyes wandered all the way across the clearing, to where Brook and Stormfur sat, eating some of the leftover prey from the night before. It had been four nights since they had come to the Clan, and they still hadn't returned home. Firestar hadn't announced anything about Graystripe to the Clan, either.

Brambleclaw swallowed, following his leader's stare. "Graystripe might be dead, you know," he meowed, careful to keep his voice level. "Any cat could die out there in the mountains. Smokepaw did."

"But the rest of us survived," Firestar replied steadily. "Graystripe will, too. He wouldn't give up on everything he's ever known. He wouldnt give up on the Clan."

_Where does that certainty come from? _Brambleclaw wondered. _How can he keep this faith that his friend is alive, when so much has happened to prove him wrong?_

"What will you do if he doesn't show up soon?" the tabby warrior asked timidly.

Firestar blinked. "If I need to, I'll go to the Tribe and search for Graystripe myself."

"What!" Brambleclaw couldn't hold back his shock. "You can't! You're the Clan leader! What if something happened? What would ThunderClan do then without their leader?"

He felt the ever familiar ambition seep into his fur, sending his tabby fur on end. It clawed its way towards his heart, whispering things that he didn't want to hear. Brambleclaw wasn't sure whether to push it away or not, and he tried to focus, tried not to think of what would happen if Firestar did die; if Graystripe wasn't found. What he could be.

"You're right," meowed Firestar, unaware of Brambleclaw's silent struggle. "The Clan is still weak from the badger attack and the recent deaths. I can't leave...now."

The last words were ominous to Brambleclaw, but he felt better when Firestar touched his tail lightly to Brambleclaw's ear. "Thank you," ThunderClan leader meowed simply, before turning away toward Brook and Stormfur.

Brambleclaw looked after him for a long moment, still unable to control the violent thoughts that pushed their way through his head. _That's right, _a voice hissed in his ear. _He trusts you. Thinks you loyal. That is good. _

Brambleclaw's fur bristled in horror. He stared around, but couldn't see who had spoken. His heart beat wildly, and he tried to tell himself that it hadn't been real, he hadn't really thought that. He _was _loyal. But he still couldn't control his wonderings of what might happen, if Graystripe wasn't found.

_I can't be deputy, _he told himself. _I'm too young. I don't have an apprentice. And Firestar won't choose me._

"Brambleclaw! Are we hunting, or are you waiting to catch the rest of the elders' gossip?" Rainwhisker's voice pulled him back to reality. The tabby warrior sucked in his breath, turning around to follow his Clanmate. He followed Rainwhisker through the forest, tried to concentrate on the sounds of prey, but he couldn't do it. His mind kept coming back to the haunting voice, the ambitious dreams that wouldn't let him be. He told himself the reasons he couldnt' be deputy, over and over again, but somehow they weren't good enough for him- just as they weren't good enough for Tigerstar.

&&&

It took two trips for Rainwhisker and Brambleclaw to bring their catch back to camp. Birchpaw and Whitepaw were still out on a hunting assessment, so they took two rabbits and a vole to Sorreltail, Daisy, and Ferncloud in the nursery. Daisy was already asleep, her kits beside her, tiny noses buried in her belly fur.

"Don't wake her," Ferncloud advised. "She's been on her paws all day, trying to calm those three. She wouldn't thank you for getting her up again."

Rainwhisker rolled his blue eyes at Brambleclaw, who felt a surge of relief to think he wasn't the only one who didn't like the kittypet and her troublemaking kin. He doubted that they would ever be warriors. Sure, it had worked for Firestar and Cloudtail. But that seemed different somehow- and that was only two kittypets, not four all at once.

A ball of white fur cannoned into Brambleclaw's leg. He looked down to see one of Sorreltail's kits, tiny kit claws embedded in his fur. He winced, attempting to shake the tiny tom off gently. Rainwhisker let out a _mrrow _of laughter. "Trust your kits, Sorreltail, to start getting into trouble before they've even seen their first full moon."

"They must take after my kin, then." Sorreltail flicked her brother with her tail as she came forward to pry her kit off of Brambleclaw. "Icekit! Stop being so naughty and go back to sleep."

Icekit squeaked, attempting to struggle out of her grasp, but she held him fast, setting him down firmly beside his siblings. "I'm sorry about that, Brambleclaw."

"It's okay." Brambleclaw licked his paw.

"What, you're not going to rip the kit to pieces?" The tabby warrior turned to see Squirrelflight's green eyes glaring at him, full of spite as she padded into the nursery with Ashfur by her side. The gray tom set down the mouse he had been carrying. "We came to see if you needed fresh-kill," he explained, picking up again and flicking his tail at Brambleclaw. "But I guess you already have some. Maybe the elders will want it."

He turned away, Squirrelflight following him with a last hard stare at Brambleclaw. He tried to keep his fur lying flat as he nudged the rabbit back towards Sorreltail, not daring look at her. Rainwhisker looked at him sympathetically.

"I suppose it's over between you two, then?" he commented. "Ashfur will be pleased."

"It's not about_ Ashfur,_" Brambleclaw spat. "It never was. Squirrelflight and I just don't belong together, that's all."

"I don't know about that." Ferncloud spoke in her soft voice as she placed her paw on top of the vole. "Dustpelt's always said that Squirrelflight was fickle, but..." She twitched one ear, her shining light-green eyes meeting Brambleclaw's. "You two just seem like you've been through too much to give it all up over a fight. That's all."

Brambleclaw nodded to her gratefully, silently wishing it was true. He'd given up trying to convince himself that he didn't want to be with Squirrelflight. Yes, she annoyed him, and yes, she didn't understand him or his RiverClan kin. But she was the best friend that he'd ever had, his constant companion through hard journeys. He couldn't ignore the fact that he missed her.

_But does she miss me?_

"Come on, then." Rainwhisker nudged him towards the entrance of the nursery. "Let's grab something from the fresh-kill pile before it's all gone."

Brambleclaw followed him, flicking his tail in farewell to the queens, but he felt disconnected as he picked at the blackbird he'd taken from the pile. For once he wasn't thinking of his brother, his father, or the ever-empty position as deputy, but his mind was full of images and questions about Squirrelflight and her sister. He hadn't forgotten Leafpool's frightened look from that morning.

"You think Leafpool really is just jumpy? " he wondered aloud to Rainwhisker. "Or is there something she isn't telling?"

The gray warrior shrugged as he swallowed. "It could be," he meowed. "But what cat would be surprised if she's still keeping secrets? After all, she'd been seeing Crowfeather for moons before she left. Anything could have happened."

His voice was laced with disapproval, and Brambleclaw twitched his ears. "You don't trust her?"

"As a medicine cat, yes," Rainwhisker meowed. "But would I trust her to be loyal to ThunderClan? To fight for us? She didn't before- she wasn't here when the badgers attacked."

"She came back. She saved us."

"Not before Sootfur died." Grief made Rainwhisker's meow hoarse. His blue eyes were intense as they burned into Brambleclaw. "Would you forget that she wasn't here, if it had been Tawnypelt or Hawkfrost that died?"

Brambleclaw paused for a long moment, thinking it over and trying to not think too hard on what he would do if his half-brother or his sister died. "I don't know," he admitted. "But still- she would have done everything she could, if she had been here."

"But she wasn't," Rainwhisker mewed bluntly.

He said something else after that, but his mew was drowned out in Brambleclaw's ears by a familiar voice. He turned his head to see Ashfur and Squirrelflight sitting together, fresh-kill at their paws. Ashfur was nudging a shrew towards the ginger she-cat.

"Do you want it?" The gray tom placed his paw on top of the prey. "I already ate; you can have it."

"No." The exasperation was faint in Squirrelflight's voice, but Brambleclaw knew her well enough to hear it. "You caught it- you can eat it."

"But-"

"She doesn't want it." Brambleclaw spoke unneccessarily loudly, glancing over at them. He blinked in surprise as the words left his mouth, though he felt strangely relieved to have said it. Several of the onlooking warriors let out purrs of amusement. Rainwhisker's eyes narrowed, mischief dancing in their depths.

Squirrelflight sprang to her paws. "Why don't you just put a mouse in it, Brambleclaw?" she snapped. "No one asked you."

Brambleclaw forced himself to meet her angry green stare. "Then don't talk so loud."

Ashfur shouldered his way in front of Squirrelflight, his lip beginning to curl. " You know, she doesn't want your help."

Brambleclaw stood up to meet him. "Why are you answering for her, then?" he demanded, pausing a few tail-lengths from the tom's face. "Afraid she'll argue with you?"

Squirrelflight opened her mouth to retort, but Ashfur interrupted, taking another step towards Brambleclaw. "I'm only saying what's true," he meowed. "And why should she listen to you, anyway? The whole Clan knows how bitter you are that Squirrelflight doesn't trust you anymore. And I don't blame her. I've seen you with Hawkfrost. It's plain to everyone that he's a traitor...plain to everyone, that is, but you."

The tabby warrior's claws slid out of their sheathes. "Don't talk about what you don't know!" he snarled. "Hawkfrost isn't a traitor, and he never was!"

Fury made his heart pound wildly, and a growl bubbled in his throat as Ashfur hissed, "Why do you even bother to defend him, Brambleclaw? Are you going to be saying next that he _wasn't _there that night with Mudclaw? That he hasn't been trying to get Mistyfoot's spot ever since he was made a warrior?"

"What makes you think that?" Brambleclaw demanded. Defense for his brother was making him sharp, but he knew that Ashfur's words were true. He and Hawkfrost bonded over their shared ambition- Hawkfrost wanted to be deputy more than anything. Was it that obvious? Did that mean that it was obvious in Brambleclaw, too?

Ashfur's eyes were cold as he looked disdainfully over Brambleclaw. "It's true. Your brother thinks he'll make himself deputy somedy- just like your father."

Brambleclaw lost control. With a screech he flung himself at Ashfur, spitting insults that were incoherent in his anger. Ashfur met him, catching Brambleclaw with his forepaws. The tabby tom was stronger than him though, and tore free of his hold, bringing him to the ground. He had Ashfur pinned for several heartbeats before the gray cat wriggled free like an adder, his teeth fastening on Brambleclaw's leg. He howled, raking his claws down Ashfur's flank.

The other cat retaliated, biting down harder while his claws shredded at Brambleclaw's belly. Blind with rage, Brambleclaw lunged forward. They wrestled back and forth, a screeching knot of gray and tabby fur. Other cats dodged around their fight, yowling with surprise and excitement. Brambleclaw could hear Rainwhisker cheering him on and, Spiderleg calling for Ashfur. They crashed into the stone wall, but still did not break apart. Ashfur's front paws held Brambleclaw's snapping jaws away from his face, while the tabby's back claws dug solidly into his flanks, holding him still.

A large forepaw swung out of nowhere, striking Brambleclaw across the face. Stunned, he lost his grip and felt Ashfur being pulled off of him. For a few moments he swayed on his paws, panting, and then blinked away the stars that clouded his vision. A ginger cat was standing in between him and Ashfur. For a heartbeat he thought it was Squirrelflight, but the cat was too big. Brambleclaw's stomach gave a jolt. It was Firestar.

"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded. The ThunderClan leader's green eyes glared in a fury that rivaled his daughter's, his head turning from Brambleclaw to Ashfur, and then back again. "Fighting? When two members of our Clan just days ago? Or have you forgotten?"

Brambleclaw stared at his paws while Ashfur mumbled, "No, Firestar."

The Clan leader hissed. "In times like these the Clan must band together to survive- not quarrel amongst ourselves. We protect the same borders, fight the same battles...we should be able to trust one another. You two must know that."

Without looking at each other, the two toms chorused, "Yes, Firestar."

"Then I'd like to see you sort this out- _without _your claws." Firestar lashed his tail, glaring at the both of them before lifting his head to look at his Clan, who had gathered loosely around the two fighting warriors. His eyes locked with his daughter's, who was only about two tail-lengths away, an unreadable expression on her face. Firestar spared her one exasperated glance before padding away, Sandstorm following him with an amused look at her kin, as if to soften her mate's anger.

Murmuring broke out among the Clan as they divided up, eagerly discussing the fight. Ashfur lifted his tail and marched away, Spiderleg in his wake. The black warrior shot Brambleclaw a mutinous look as he went.

"Great fight!" Rainwhisker was running towards him. "You would have had Ashfur, you know, if Firestar hadn't broken it up like that." The dark gray tom twitched one ear, his eyes bright. "And did you see?"

Brambleclaw turned his head in the direction Rainwhisker pointed, feeling a surge of satisfaction. Squirrelflight had stayed where she was, not following Ashfur, nor coming toward him. She refused to meet Brambleclaw's eyes, but ignored the gray warrior too, when he took a few steps towards her. Brambleclaw snorted with content as the warrior walked away with a limp toward Leafpool

"You might want to talk to her," Rainwhisker suggested lightly.

"What? No!" Brambleclaw bent to lick at his wounds. "It wasn't even about Squirrelflight. Did you hear what he was saying about my brother? It was none of his business!"

"Oh, come on, Brambleclaw," sighed Rainwhisker. "You know as well as I do that the fight wouldn't have happened if Ashfur hadn't been padding after Squirrelflight for the past season. He didn't mean what he was saying about Hawkfrost. He was just trying to get at you...not that he even needed to try. Ever since we got here, you've been pretty prickly."

"What's that supposed to mean-" Brambleclaw started to say, but Rainwhisker pushed him with his muzzle, propeling him towards Squirrelflight. "Go on. Talk to her."

Brambleclaw reluctantly padded towards the ginger she-cat. She flattened her ears as he approached. Her green eyes were cold- but not as empty of emotion as they had been for the past moon.

"What was that about?" she snarled, as soon as he was close enough to hear. "Trying to show off, were you? Thought I'd be impressed?" She flicked her tail accusingly, "Well, I'm not."

"It wasn't like that," Brambleclaw protested. "You heard what he said about Hawkfrost."

"He was right!"

The tabby tom felt his claws slide out of their sheathes and took a breath, trying to hold in his anger. "No he wasn't," he meowed after a long pause. "And why are you listening to him, anyway? The Squirrelflight _I _knew wouldn't let Ashfur, or any cat for that matter, answer for her."

He had meant for the words to sound detatched, but they came out bitter. Squirrelflight's eyes flashed, "You don't know what you're talking about," she snapped .

Brambleclaw looked up, meeting her gaze. "Yes I do," he mewed. He felt his anger sink, replaced by an empty, hollow feeling. He shook himself. "Why do you let him answer for you, Squirrelflight? You can't like him." He blinked in surprise at his words.

Her fur bristled. "How do you know? He's kind, he cares about me, and he's loyal to ThunderClan...unlike _some _cats I could name."

Her eyes were cold, accusing, and seemed to sear through the tom. Brambleclaw's heart was beating fast. He could hear it thudding in his ears, and the wounds Ashfur had given him stung like adder bites. "You don't think I'm loyal?" he rasped. "You don't think I care?"

Squirrelflight's claws sheathed as she gazed at him. Her ginger fur fell flat, and she seemed to sink to the ground. "I don't know what to think anymore, Brambleclaw," she muttered. "I really don't."

But she was staring at him so intensely, so bitterly, that Brambleclaw knew she was lying. She knew what she wanted and knew what her heart was saying, just like he did. And yet both of them were too proud, too stubborn, to say anything. They only sat there for a few moments before they turned away. Brambleclaw lowered his gaze to the ground as he walked. He didn't want to meet Squirrelflight's eyes, for he didn't want her to see the pain that he knew was there.

**Review...pretty please with (just for Tigerstripe) sugar on top?**


	7. Chapter 6

**UPDATE! Finally! Both my editor and I have been busy (thanks again Dewflower!) so this one took a little while, as always...but here it is, Leafpool's POV. Read on!**

The cold dawn sun broke through the trees,sending faint shafts of light into the stone hollow, its bright light casting shadows that danced along the stacked herbs. Steadily, they moved towards the cleft in the rocks, finally striking against Leafpool's open amber eyes, making them shine. The medicine cat hadn't been sleeping, though her whole body ached with fatigue and her tail drooped from exhaustion. She was afraid to close her eyes, wondering what she would see if she did.

_We hunt StarClan. _The terrible words seemed to echo through the ThunderClan camp, finding their way to Leafpool's ears time and time again. She hadn't really slept since her return from the Moonpool, and that had been three nights ago. Her stomach growled from hunger; she had eaten little since she returned. But she was used to the knots in her stomach; they hadn't disappeared since the days before Crowfeather had told her that he loved her.

The gray-black tom flitted in and out of her thoughts these days, as if sometimes there were too many other worries for there to be room for him. Leafpool didn't want to forget him, nor the joy that he brought her, but it seemed inevitable. How could she keep thinking about her forbidden love, when there was some awful destruction out there waiting to pounce upon the forest?

_You don't know that, _she told herself. _You don't know what the dream means. _

But even now, as she turned around, she thought she saw the stone illuminating the glint of cold, hungry eyes fixed on her, just like the eyes that had surrounded her in her dream at the Moonpool. She could remember the terrified looks on the faces of the StarClan cats. She blinked slowly, trembling. It had never occurred to her that her warrior ancestors could have enemies.

Slowly Leafpool forced herself to her paws, pushing herself through a long stretch before she leaped out of her den to the clearing below. It was too early for any of the ThunderClan cats to be up, but Brook and Stormfur were just stirring from their mossy nest at the far side of the stone hollow. The former RiverClan tom jumped up as he saw Leafpool, padding towards her with a friendly look on his face, Brook not far behind.

"It's a good morning," he commented, flexing his long, lean muscles.

"Yes," Brook agreed. She tilted her head upward. "No wind, and very warm. It is not like the mountains."

" Are you going back there soon?" Leafpool wondered aloud. She didn't object to the Tribe cats staying longer, but it seemed that it was time they started to get restless. After all, if Graystripe was really out there, every day counted if they wanted to get him back. For all they knew he could be hurt or even dying.

A shadow crossed over Stormfur's amber eyes. "I don't know," he admitted. "Stoneteller will be wondering where we are soon, but we can't get up and leave until Firestar decides what he wants to do about Graystripe."

"What _can _he do?" Leafpool mewed. "If you can't find him, how can he?"

Stormfur's ears twitched. "He'll have a better chance than any Tribe cat will," he meowed unexpectedly. "As long as he believes Graystripe is alive, and if he actually _is _alive, of course, then he'll have a good chance of finding him. He's too stubborn not to."

Leafpool tipped her head to one side. She thought that she understood what he was saying, but when she turned it over in her mind she realized she had no idea. "But Firestar's not going to leave ThunderClan to go prowling around the mountains in search of Graystripe. He can't, not right after all that's happened," she pointed out.

Stormfur lashed his tail. "From what Firestar has said to me, that's exactly what he means to do," he meowed.

Leafpool opened her mouth to protest, but closed it when Brooke began to speak. "We wait," she meowed, "so that he may have the time to assure your Tribe that he will return."

Leafpool felt her fur stand on end. She didn't believe that her father- her sensible, Clan leader father- would go charging to the mountains to look for a cat that he wasn't even sure was still alive. But wasn't that just the sort of thing Graystripe and Firestar would do for each other? Wasn't that what Graystripe had done in the first place, creating that mouse-brained attack on the Twolegs to rescue his friend's kin?

"But what if..." Leafpool whispered, looking at her paws, "what if he dies out there?"

Brook put her tail on the younger she-cat's shoulder. "Many creatures live in Tribe territory and live," she assured her. "Many cats. Your father will survive, too."

Her amber eyes were comforting, and Leafpool nodded after a long heartbeat. "I hope so," she mewed, though her stomach lurched at the thought of losing her father to the mountains.

For a moment there was silence, and then Stormfur meowed, "So, Leafpool…you and Crowfeather?"

Leafpool blinked, jerking her head up. She tried to read the look in Stormfur's eyes, but his face was carefully neutral. "Yes," she admitted finally. "We ran away together."

Her heart was beating quickly, partially out of the usual awkwardness whenever she spoke of her breaking of the warrior code, and partially because she knew that Crowfeather's first love had been Feathertail...Stormfur's sister. Would he hold that against her?

He stayed silent for a long moment, his eyes unreadable. "You came back," he finally meowed.

"I had to," Leafpool explained carefully. "We ran into Midnight, and she told us about the badgers. We came as fast as we could."

"Even though you knew you would be seperated," Stormfur mused. His eyes were shadowed with a sorrow that Leafpool couldn't understand, and he lowered them to the ground. Brook pressed her muzzle to his shoulder. "Stormfur wishes to see Crowfeather before we must leave," she mewed.

"Why?" The medicine cat blinked.

Stormfur turned to look at her. He was clearly struggling to hold in his emotions. "I saw Crowfeather broken once before," he meowed quietly. "When Feathertail died saving him. And now it's happened again." He sighed. "The Tribe of Endless Hunting…StarClan have been cruel to him."

Leafpool felt a lump form in her throat. She tried to speak around it, but couldn't choke the words out. Finally she managed to give a bleak nod, turning away and running towards the thorn barrier, trying to escape into the forest, away from the look in Stormfur's amber eyes that made her so sure that she had done something wrong.

&&&

Leafpool was halfway through the forest before she had to stop and rest, the smells around her unfamiliar. With a jolt she realized that she didn't know where she was going. Thorns had dug themselves painfully into her pelt- she had run through gorse and brambles, trying to leave her sorrow and guilt behind. Now her body throbbed painfully, her head and heart aching even worse.

_He was right. Stormfur was right. _Crowfeather had had his heart broken twice- all because of her. How could she have agreed to see him, when she had always known how badly it would turn out? How could she have left him like that, after all he'd suffered? Why was ThunderClan more important? How could she be so blind?

For a long moment she closed her eyes, sinking into the pain and loneliness that closed over her head like the waves of the sun-drown-place. She closed her eyes and remembered times she had spent with Crowfeather, nights of talking and sharing secrets and fears; realizing all they had in common. She missed him so much, and without Cinderpelt, she had no one to confide in.

She was alone.

The sting from the thorns made Leafpool open her eyes again, gazing around at her surroundings for the first time. Habit had brought her towards WindClan territory, in a small dip in the ground near the border where she had once met Crowfeather. Now she sadly trotted down the slope to the tiny pond that lay at the bottom, tasting the last of the tom's stale scent that lingered in the air. She sat at the bank, bending to tug the thorns in her side free one by one.

After a while she began to concentrate on her work, licking at her pelt and managing to forget everything that nagged at her. All was quiet, almost peaceful, and Leafpool felt a tug at her eyelids as she recalled her lack of sleep. Slowly she pulled the last thorn free and slid sideways on her paws, only to feel another flank against hers.

The medicine cat leaped up in surprise, swinging her head around to see icy blue eyes staring into hers. Crowfeather backed up at once, dipping his head. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I wasn't looking for you, I promise. I was chasing a rabbit that came just over the border..."

He nudged a small brown body beside him. Leafpool forced herself to nod, trying to control the frantic beating of her heart. "It's all right, Crowfeather," she mewed. "I wasn't paying attention. I shouldn't be here."

Crowfeather's eyes strayed to her ungroomed pelt, smeared with drops of blood."You're hurt."

Leafpool quickly shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Okay." One of his ears twitched as he sheathed and unsheathed his claws. Awkward silence stretched between them for a long moment. "Well, it's good to see you, anyway. You look..."

"Terrible." The word came out in a sigh. She knew it was true. From the stress of prophecies, Crowfeather, and treating the Clan, she knew she must look haggard and exhausted- just the way she felt.

"No, you look well." He tried to twitch his whiskers.

Suddenly Leafpool could see the downward slope of his shoulders, the dull haze that covered his eyes as they tried to shine with the light of laughter. _He's as bad off as I am. _Sympathy and guilt slammed into her , and suddenly she couldn't find the strength to look at him. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

Crowfeather's tail came forward over his shoulder, as if to touch her ear, before he jerked it back. "What for?"

"For...for leaving like that," Leafpool whispered, her voice slowly rising. "For not even really saying good-bye, for making you come back...for thinking that my Clan was more important than you. I shouldn't have broken you like that." The words didn't sound right as they came out, but she couldn't take them back. Crowfeather stared at her, still and silent. She couldn't read the expression on his face and opened her mouth speak, but he began before she could.

"You think it's _your _fault?" he asked incredulously. "Everything's your fault? You weren't the one that insisted we leave our Clans. You weren't the one that said you loved me when you already knew of everything that was keeping us apart. You weren't the one that thought we could still leave the Clans behind, after we already knew of the badgers." He stopped, flanks heaving, and meowed, "Leafpool, it's all _my _fault."

"No it's not." She stepped forward, her nose just brushing his muzzle. "You were right. If we had stayed behind, we'd still be together now."

"And how many cats would be dead?" Crowfeather wondered bitterly. Leafpool opened her mouth, but he shook his head. "I don't know what's right, Leafpool. I just know I don't want to argue with you."

His last words were soft. A bubble of warmth blossomed in Leafpool's heart, threatening to burst if he looked away. But the WindClan tom peered closer, his eyes narrowing. "There's something wrong."

Immediately she looked at her paws, unable to stand the thought of him worrying for her even more. "No," she mewed. "I'm okay. It's just...there's been a lot to do lately. A lot of cats to heal from the badger attack."

"But you would be able to handle that," Crowfeather meowed. "And if that was it, you'd be back at the ThunderClan camp, instead of running around at dawn." The tip of his tail twitched back and forth. "What is it, Leafpool? You can tell me."

His voice was unusually warm, so familiar that it made Leafpool's wariness melt away. For so long she had longed to confide in him, and now he was giving her a chance she couldn't force herself to refuse. Before she knew it, the story of what had happened at the Moonpool leaked out. Suddenly, she forgot that he was from another Clan; that they weren't together anymore and never could be. She didn't have anyone else to tell.

But after she'd finished Crowfeather's first words were, "Does Firestar know about this?" His voice was laced with concern.

"No," Leafpool admitted. She shuffled her paws, not sure how to tell him that she couldn't even look her father in the eye anymore, let alone confide StarClan's ominous prophecies in him. She felt Crowfeather's tail on her shoulder. "You have to tell him," he meowed quietly.

"I know," Leafpool murmured. She looked up, feeling comforted by Crowfeather's bright blue eyes, their dull sheen fading for the moment. She leaned against him, drained by the exhaustion of her emotions. For a moment the only sound was the wind through the gorse. Then she heard him purr. "I missed you."

"Me too," Leafpool mewed sadly. She watched the sun rise, pastel colors filtering through the sky like light through pudles. She knew she would have to leave soon, but she didn't want to move; didn't want to spoil the warmth and safety that she had missed so much. Crowfeather was still, too, his whiskers moving gently in the breeze, brushing against her cheek ever so slightly. Leafpool felt her eyes begin to close. She could sleep, finally. She was safe around Crowfeather.

"Leafpool!"

The shocked growl made both of them jump, moving quickly apart. Squirrelflight was crashing through the undergrowth, her green eyes wide as she stared at her sister, her voice accusing. "What are you doing here?"

"I..." Leafpool couldn't find a suitable excuse, and stayed silent instead. Crowfeather touched his rabbit with his paw. "I was chasing this over the border," he meowed, "and ran into Leafpool."

"Right." Squirrelflight's voice had a touch of sarcasm to it, but her gaze wasn't cold as she looked over the WindClan tom. "You should be going, you know."

For a moment Crowfeather's chin lifted, his claws unsheathing as if to argue, and then he simply nodded. "I should."

He turned his head towards Leafpool. The medicine cat looked away, unable to stare into his eyes, scared of what she would see there. Finally he picked up his rabbit and bounded away, leaving the two sisters in silence. Leafpool stared at her paws again until Squirrelflight made a noise in her throat. She looked up.

"What?"

"So what was that about?" Squirrelflight lifted her tail, her fur bristling.

Leafpool blinked. "He was telling the truth. His rabbit crossed the border and--" She broke off, catching the wave of disbelief that came off her sister. "You think I'm lying."

"I believe what I see. And I saw you with Crowfeather just now."

"I wasn't _looking _for him!" Leafpool's voice cracked in desperation. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going...I was just trying to get out of the camp..." She trailed off, her excuses sounding weak in her own ears. "You still don't believe me, do you?"

Squirrelflight's gaze was sad as she met Leafpool's eyes. "I'm sorry, Leafpool. But I don't know what to believe anymore. You love him...more than ThunderClan?"

For several long heartbeats Leafpool struggled inside as Squirrelflight watched, motionless, still waiting for her answer. Finally Leafpool murmured, "I don't know, Squirrelflight. I don't know anything anymore."

Squirrelflight hung her head, tail lashing back and forth. "I know you don't."

Leafpool's heart thudded loudly in her chest as her sister turned around, beginning to lead the way back to camp, her fur still standing on end. The medicine cat didn't dare look back to see if Crowfeather was still hiding in the undergrowth, however much she wanted to. Instead she followed her Clanmate, her paws dragging in the sand, leaving steep trails behind her. But her heart felt somehow lighter- she wasn't the only cat that knew of her struggle. And Crowfeather's advice had made sense. She had to tell Firestar about this.

_What will he say?_

As they neared the thorn tunnel, Squirrelflight turned sharply around. "You won't see Crowfeather anymore, will you?" she asked anxiously.

Leafpool looked down. "No," she meowed, and then wondered if that was a lie.

"Then I won't tell the Clan about this. But please, Leafpool, be careful..." Squirrelflight broke off and then began to speak again. "Firestar is worried about you, you know. That's how I found you- I was following you. He asked me to."

"He doesn't trust me," Leafpool muttered despondently, not lifting her head.

"That's not it!" Squirrelflight spoke sharply. "Don't you see, Leafpool? He's frightened for you- Sandstorm too. The whole Clan doesn't know what to think. And you won't say anything."

Leafpool swallowed. She knew her sister was right. She had hardly spoken to anyone since her return, for fear of their reactions towards her. She talked mostly to Brightheart, but their conversation never strayed outside medicine cat business. Even Squirrelflight seemed farther away from her, as if her sister's emotions were harder to reach then they should be.

Or was it Leafpool who was pushing her away?

"Please, Leafpool." Squirrelflight's ears pricked up as she studied her sister closely. "You have to know that I'm still here for you. No matter what you did and might still do, I'm here. Things are still the same."

Her words made Leafpool look up, tilting her head to one side. "No," she mewed slowly. "You're wrong. Things are different now. They have to be."

**I think I'll go with the old standby, this time... REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Update! Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers (hehe, Brightfang, say it as many times as you want, always a motivation to write!) and also to Dewflower for editing.**

**Brambleclaw's POV...**

Warm newleaf winds brushed the pelts of ThunderClan warriors as they headed up the ShadowClan border, Sandstorm leading the way with Brambleclaw and Rainwhisker just behind. The tabby warrior stretched his limbs, feeling the muscles ripple under his pelt. As punishment for his fight with Ashfur, Firestar had put Brambleclaw on hunting duty for the elders for several nights. It was a relief to be out on a patrol again.

"ShadowClan have been staying inside their own borders," Rainwhisker commented. "Strange. I thought they'd be sticking their noses in our territory thinking we're too weak to say anything about it."

"It wasn't that long ago that we helped them chase out the kittypets," Sandstorm reminded him, flicking her tail in his direction. "They're bound to be a little more friendly than normal."

"But since when does Blackstar have a great memory for the times when other Clans have helped him?" Brambleclaw meowed. "We should patrol this border more often, just in case."

He glanced at Sandstorm, worried that she might rebuke him for giving an order when she was the senior warrior on this patrol, but she only nodded. "We will."

The patrol fell silent as they prowled the border, carried on in silence, stalking close to the ground, their paws slowing sinking into heavy mud. Brambleclaw's lip curled in disgust as he stared into the marshes. "How can they prefer those swamps to a safe, dry forest?" he muttered to Rainwhisker, thinking of his sister, Tawnypelt. She had chosen ShadowClan over the ThunderClan camp she had been born into, and more than once she had shown signs of missing the territory she had left behind.

Rainwhisker shrugged. "You wouldn't catch me hunting frogs," he meowed under his breath, and Brambleclaw stifled his _mrrow _of laughter as Sandstorm turned around to look at them.

"Everything's quiet here," the senior warrior meowed. "Let's get back to camp."

The three cats relaxed as they traveled deeper inside their own territory, the large trees shadowing the forest with leafy branches dancing in the wind. Rainwhisker paused to scent the air. "Should we stop and hunt?" he asked. "After all, ThunderClan has two more mouths to feed now." His voice was neutral as he spoke of Brook and Stormfur, but Sandstorm's green eyes narrowed. "They'll leave soon enough," she meowed.

"Have they told Firestar when?" Brambleclaw asked.

Sandstorm acted as if she hadn't heard him, though her ears were angled in his direction. "Cloudtail took out a hunting patrol, and the apprentices have been out all day. We don't need to stop yet."

Rainwhisker gave Brambleclaw a meaningful look, and the tabby warrior remembered what Firestar had confided in him about leaving the Clan to search for Graystripe. Could it really be true that he was going to journey to the mountains and leave ThunderClan behind? Especially when the Clan was still weak from the attack?

_What if he doesn't come back? _Brambleclaw battled with several emotions at once. Fear made his belly clench at the thought of belonging to a leaderless Clan, but then his mind came back to what Tigerstar had once told him: _You scent your prey, you stalk it, and then you pounce. It's the same with power. It won't come to you unless you seek it._

If Firestar really died, was it possible that ThunderClan would be open for him to take over? Would the other cats follow him? His thought drifted to cats who he knew wouldn't support him, like Ashfur and Spiderleg, and then of the loyal senior warriors like Sandstorm and Dustpelt. What reason had any of them to listen to him?

_And what about Squirrelflight?_

There had been a time when he had thought she would be his strongest supporter, clawing his ears when he deserved it and sticking up for him more fiercely than any other cat. But now...it was far too easy to imagine her beside Ashfur and Spiderleg, yowling protests along with them.

_No, it would be impossible to get ThunderClan's support now. But maybe later..._Ambition made him impatient, but then he recalled his father's advice again. If power really was like hunting, he couldn't seize it before he was ready, or it would slide between his paws as quickly as it had appeared. He would have to wait until the time was right, and then everything would work out perfectly.

&&&

Once they returned to camp, Sandstorm padded off to report to Firestar. Brambleclaw and Rainwhisker sat down, drowsily sharing tongues outside the warriors' den. The camp was quiet, most of the warriors out on patrols, the only sounds being rustling leaves overhead and the soft murmur of wind as it passed through camp. Sorreltail and Brackenfur lay together outside the nursery, each with one eye open to watch their kits play, their soft kitten fur plastered with dust as they rolled through the stone hollow. Daisy and Ferncloud were talking as the horseplace cat's kits leaped over them, safely away from Sorreltail's much smaller litter.

"The Gathering's in a few days," commented Rainwhisker, his eyes following the kits' games. "It'll be the first one since the badger attack, and our wounds aren't healed yet."

"At least the camp has been fixed up," Brambleclaw replied, glancing at the newly patched thorn barrier and nursery. "And we've been patrolling our borders well enough. No cat can say that we're weak."

Rainwhisker snorted, licking one paw and drawing it over his ear. "Can you honestly say that we'd put up much of a fight if ShadowClan really did attack?" he growled. "I was limping through that patrol today."

"I'm all right," Brambleclaw meowed, feeling his neck fur rise at the mention of a battle. "I'd take down any ShadowClan cats that came near me."

Brambleclaw's eye caught a flash of orange fur. "Or you _would_, once you were done fighting with your own Clanmates," meowed Squirrelflight sarcastically as she emerged from the warriors' den. Her tail whipped out, flicking Brambleclaw in the back of the head as she stalked away. He looked after her, frustrated, and Rainwhisker blinked his blue eyes sympathetically.

"It could have been worse," he commented bracingly. "She could have clawed you."

Brambleclaw sighed as his whiskers gave a feeble twitch. He hadn't seen much of Squirrelflight since his fight with Ashfur. He couldn't help but notice how she avoided his eyes whenever they did speak, and her mew was always crisp and cold. So far he had managed to keep himself from retorting to her taunts, though he felt his claws unsheathe whenever she came near him.

His heart lightened as he noted that he hadn't seen her being any kinder to Ashfur than she was to him. Brambleclaw knew it wasn't just because of the fight- there had been truth in his jabs about how Ashfur never hesitated to speak for Squirrelflight, something that the sharp-tongued she-cat couldn't stand.

"Sometimes I wonder if things will ever be right between us again," he muttered to Rainwhisker. "I haven't said a word to her in days, and she's still angry."

"Well, I don't think she's falling over her paws to forgive you," Rainwhisker mewed with a _mrrow _of laughter. "Maybe she's waiting for you to say something."

"Should I?" Brambleclaw blinked.

"Maybe...but mind you keep your claws sheathed when you do. The last thing we need around here is more fighting."

Brambleclaw sighed, setting his head on his paws after he looked after Squirrelflight, noticing the way her tail drooped, her paws dragging through the dust. _Why does it have to be this difficult? Is it StarClan's way of saying that we aren't meant to be?_

He couldn't make himself believe that his warrior ancestors had anything to do with his relationship with Squirrelflight. Surely there were far more important things for them to think about than the feud of two young cats. Still, it didn't seem right for it to be so hard for them to even be friends. If Squirrelflight didn't trust him, he didn't see how he was going to change her mind

_Not by trying to be deputy, that's for sure. _

But would he really give up his ambition to make her happy? Was that something Hawkfrost or Tigerstar would approve of? Was that what he, Brambleclaw, wanted?

The tabby warrior blinked as he looked after Squirrelflight, realizing for the first time that he might have to make a decision someday, a choice that would leave part of him behind.

&&&

Brambleclaw padded through the forest, sliding in and out of the shadows, his tabby pelt nearly invisible against the darkness. He opened his mouth to drink in the air and found it damp and cool, empty of all prey-scent. The trees, too, were unfamiliar, dark with low limbs that trailed on the ground, their leaves swaying lightly in a breeze Brambleclaw couldn't feel himself. A shiver ran through his pelt.

This was Tigerstar's forest.

"Brambleclaw?" The dark tabby's ears shot up, but then he relaxed as he recognized the voice.

"Hawkfrost? Are you here, too?"

"Yes." His half-brother melted out of the darkness, tail raised in greeting. His icy blue eyes were bright against the dark background as he padded across the clearing to touch noses with his half-brother, giving a short purr. "It's good to see you healthy- RiverClan heard about the badgers. I told myself that you were strong enough to survive...unless you haven't." He drew back suddenly, his eyes widening as if to check to make sure Brambleclaw was real, but the ThunderClan tom shook his head. "I'm okay. The Clan is too, mostly- but we lost Sootfur and Cinderpelt. The Clan mourns them."

"Your medicine cat?" Hawkfrost dipped his head formally. "I'm sorry. You-"

"You needn't be sorry." The new voice was deeper, echoing through the trees. "Cats reach death when they deserve to die- that is, when their courage has failed them so that they can no longer fight well enough to live."

Tigerstar's voice didn't chill Brambleclaw the way it used to. Instead, he pricked his ears up, craning his head to find his father in the shadows. Hawkfrost looked around too, his tail twitching as a muscular form leaped from the limbs of a tree. He stretched forward to touch noses with the two tabby cats. "My sons," he greeted the. "It's been a while since I've spoke to you both, though I've been watching you. You serve your Clans well."

Brambleclaw dipped his head, while Hawkfrost's eyes shone with pride from the immediate praise. Tigerstar nodded. "You will need the wisdom you've gained- the time has come for you to begin to make choices, ones that may not only affect yourselves."

Brambleclaw's belly clenched. Wasn't that just what he had been thinking yesterday: that before too long he may make a decision that would push him away from Squirrelflight forever?

"What if we make the wrong choices?" he mewed. "What if we do something that we can't go back on?"

His father turned to look at him, dark amber eyes blazing. "Whatever you do, you will find some way to regret it," he growled. "But you must not dwell on it. A strong leader never shows regret or fear. Who will respect you if you do?"

Hawkfrost meowed agreement. For a long moment Brambleclaw stared into his father's eyes. They were so full of ambition, and a dark sort of power that sent a chill down his spine and a thrill through his heart. He tried to imagine that same spark in Firestar's green eyes, but no matter how hard he tried he found he couldn't. Why was that? Because Firestar was so much warmer than Tigerstar, and he knew when to halt his ambition? Or because Firestar was weak, showing his fear and confusion for the Clan to see?

Could it be that Tigerstar was a better leader than Firestar?

Brambleclaw realized that his father was still waiting for a response and he nodded. "I understand."

"Good." Tigerstar lifted his tail. "I've brought you here to warn you, my sons. Though I do not have the power to see when trouble may come to your forest, I know that StarClan is restless and fearful." His fur was bristling, and there was a strange gleam in his eyes that Brambleclaw couldn't comprehend. "Something is coming, bigger than anything you have ever faced before, and you must be ready. Only in battle will you finally be able to understand the power I know you possess."

The former ShadowClan leader glanced skyward, his eyes reflecting the moonlight. "I must go," he announced, getting to his paws. He looked affectionately over the two dark tabby cats, and then turned, beginning to pad into the undergrowth.

Brambleclaw leaped up. "No, wait!"

Tigerstar turned. "What is it?"

"I..." Brambleclaw trailed off. He had a thousand things to ask Tigerstar. How had he justified his taking over ThunderClan, and then ShadowClan? What did he want Brambleclaw to do? What was the danger that he was hinting at?

He opened his mouth, but there was a lump in his throat that kept him from saying anything, and he could only shake his head. Tigerstar tipped his own head to one side but said nothing, only turning around again and disappearing into the shadows. For a few moments there was silence, and then Hawkfrost shook himself.

"What do you think is coming to the forest?" he wondered aloud, looking in the direction his father had gone, blue eyes hungry.

"I don't know," Brambleclaw mewed. "It's something big, though. Tigerstar said that StarClan themselves were frightened. What trouble could there be that could scare StarClan?"

Hawkfrost shrugged. "Our father didn't seem worried," he meowed, as if that settled the matter. "Besides, he said it would be our chance to prove ourselves."

_By doing what? _Brambleclaw wondered, but he didn't bother to ask aloud. Hawkfrost glanced at him, icy eyes narrow. "What were you going to ask?"

Brambleclaw shook his head, staring down at his paws. Hawkfrost took a step closer. "Something about Squirrelflight?"

Brambleclaw looked up, his mouth opening to deny it- but then said nothing when he realized it was true. Wasn't it Squirrelflight that he was worrying about most of all? Weren't his fears of what she would think what was keeping him from following his own ambitions?

"Yes," he meowed at last. "She still thinks that she can't trust me. I...just don't know what to say to her anymore."

Hawkfrost blinked at him sympathetically. "Maybe you've been trying to explain things to her for too long," he suggested. "She may just not be able to understand what it's like being Tigerstar's son. How would she know, anyway?"

Brambleclaw shrugged. His brother had a point. Squirrelflight had always been surrounded by her kin- and her father was Firestar, about as far away from Tigerstar as was possible. Was that why she couldn't comprehend Brambleclaw's connection to Hawkfrost and Tigerstar?

The ground was starting to fade away beneath Brambleclaw's paws, and the forest around him blurred into black fog. But he could still see Hawkfrost's icy blue eyes as the forest around them melted into a haze, and his half-brother's voice was an echo in his ears. "Maybe you two just aren't meant to be together."

Brambleclaw lifted his head drowsily in the warriors' den, the words still ringing in his head. Hawkfrost had made it sound so matter-of-fact...as if it were that simple.

_But it's not, _Brambleclaw thought bitterly, as he heaved himself to his paws. He could see Squirrelflight stirring in the far corner of the den, and her green eyes met his for a heartbeat before she looked away. _It's just not._

**I always like reviews...hint hint, wink wink...**


	9. Chapter 8

**SURPRISE! Hehe, two updates all at once! I wrote this one while I was waiting for the edits back for the previous one...so, anyway, Leafy's POV:**

The day of the Gathering was bright and clear, as if the forest had skipped newleaf and the time of greenleaf was already here. Leafpool ventuered out of her den, sniffing the air appreciatively as Brightheart padded out of the warriors' den to meet her.

"I think I'll go search for herbs today," mewed the young medicine cat. "There's bound to be some new leaves sprouting, what with this warmth."

"You couldn't ask for a better day to find them," Brightheart replied. She stretched, her ginger-and-white pelt rippling in the sunlight and looking around the clearing. At that moment Daisy appeared out of the nursery. She nervously avoided Brightheart's cold gaze, but her kits came bouncing over immediately, Hazelkit leading them.

"Brightheart!" The little she-cat cried delightedly. "Brightheart, what are you doing today?"

The ThunderClan queen let out a _mrrow _of laughter. "I don't know yet," she meowed, leaning down to touch noses lightly with the tiny kit. "Perhaps I'll go and collect herbs with Leafpool."

"Oh!" The kit's eyes grew wide. "You're going to do medicine cat stuff. But you said you weren't a medicine cat."

"I'm not," Brightheart meowed quickly with a glance at Leafpool. "I'm only helping Leafpool now, since the Clan is still so shaken after the badgers' attack."

"I think you should be a medicine cat," Hazelkit announced. "Don't you want to?"

"No," Brightheart mewed lightly. "Special cats are chosen for that path, and I know I'm not one of them."

Her tail was lashing, her one good eye looking in Daisy's direction. Leafpool shuffled her paws. She knew that Brightheart was as good as a medicine cat apprentice now- she spent more time in Leafpool's den then she did with the warriors. But Brightheart was constantly assuring her it would only be for a while. _Until she fixes things with Cloudtail, _Leafpool thought.

"Leafpool!" The she-cat jumped as she heard her father calling her name, and saw Firestar leaping down from his den at the Highledge. She felt her fur stand on end as he came near her. Had Squirrelflight told him about her illict meeting with Crowfeather? Or had some other cat seen, and he'd found out that way?

But the Clan leader didn't seem angry as he asked, "Are you busy?"

Leafpool blinked. "I was going to collect herbs," she meowed, "but that can wait. I have all day...we won't be going to the Gathering until near moonhigh."

Firestar nodded. "Good," he replied. "I'd like a word with you."

_About what? _Leafpool wondered nervously, but she didn't ask, only dipped her head and followed her father back towards his den. She thought that Brightheart would look after her curiously, but the older she-cat had her head bent, speaking to Hazelkit again. Of course, Leafpool reminded herself, there was nothing strange with a Clan leader wanting to speak to his medicine cat.

Firestar settled himself on his nest beneath the Highledge. Leafpool sat facing him, wrapping her tail firmly around her paws. "What did you want to tell me?" She couldn't read the look in her father's green eyes, and one of his ears twitched in a way that reminded her of Squirrelflight when she was uncertain about something.

"Brook and Stormfur have been staying with us for far too long," he meowed at last. Leafpool blinked at him, amazed that he was admitting it so bluntly, and then nodded. "The whole Clan is wondering about when they'll be leaving," she mewed, and then added hesitantly, "Stormfur told me that you were thinking of going back to the mountains with them, to look for Graystripe. But-"

"He's right, Leafpool," Firestar meowed. "That's what I mean to do."

Leafpool gaped at him. "But...but- you can't just _leave_!" she stuttered. "How can the Clan cope without its leader? And what if-"

She broke off. Firestar tipped his head to one side, leaning closer. "What if what?" he asked. "What is it, Leafpool?"

Leafpool took a breath, remembering Crowfeather's advice when she had met him. _You have to tell Firestar._ Her eyes closed for a heartbeat, and she felt more certain as she recalled the soft touch of his fur against hers. "I had a dream," she confessed. "At the last half-moon, when I went to the Moonpool. I met with Spottedleaf and Cinderpelt and Feathertail...and they told me that there's still danger in the forest; that there's trouble ahead. They were going to tell me more, but..."

She trailed off and then took another breath, telling the story of the fearsome cats that had hunted her in her dreams. Firestar listened, his eyes wide and ears pricked, the tip of his tail twitching back and forth.

" 'We hunt StarClan'?" he repeated, when she was done. "What does that mean?"

"I've no idea," Leafpool admitted. "But the StarClan cats were frightened of them- they ran when they came. And Cinderpelt told me Yellowfang's prophecy again...'before there is peace, blood will spill blood, and the lake will run red'."

"Blood will spill blood..." Firestar repeated thoughtfully. "It sounds as if there might be a battle coming."

Leafpool nodded. "How can you leave now?" she meowed. "ThunderClan might need you."

Firestar twitched his tail. "Why didn't you tell me this before?" he asked.

The medicine cat looked down at her paws. "I...I was afraid to," she mewed. "I didn't know what to say to you, and I thought- thought maybe you wouldn't believe me. I broke the warrior code. And the medicine cat ones. I don't blame any cat for not trusting me."

She ducked her head, staring fixedly at the ground, and only heard Firestar's soft pawsteps as he crossed the den to stand beside her, his flame-colored fur brushing hers. "I know that you're loyal, Leafpool," he meowed. "Loyal to your heart and to StarClan, which is all a medicine cat needs to be. You've proven yourself many times over. ThunderClan won't forget that."

_But what if I can't forget Crowfeather? _Leafpool thought, her belly clenching, and forced herself to look up at Firestar. His green gaze was clear and calm.

"You have to remember, though," he continued, "that you are ThunderClan's only medicine cat now. I have to hear what you recieve from StarClan- all of ThunderClan depends on you, more than they ever did before."

A lump formed in Leafpool's throat, but she forced herself to nod. "I'm sorry," she mewed.

Firestar purred softly, and for a moment Leafpool was a kit again, in the nursery with Squirrelflight, with no more worries beyond how long it was until her mother put her to sleep. Firestar's meow was deep and certain and seemed to flow through her like it used to, making her feel stronger. "It's all right, Leafpool."

He was moving away from her now, sitting back in his nest, suddenly businesslike. "Even with StarClan's warnings," he meowed, "I still have to go. I have to find Graystripe...or, if I can't, I have to be the last one searching. I know that he would do the same if it were me that was gone."

"He would," Leafpool agreed. "But how long will you be gone? And how will we know if-" Her throat closed, and she had to start again- "if you aren't coming back?"

The flame-colored tom watched her steadily. "I'm leaving the dawn after the Gathering," he meowed. "And I won't be gone for longer then a moon- I want to be back before the next Gathering. With a bit of luck the other Clans won't even know I'm missing."

The medicine cat nodded as he went on. "Brackenfur and Sandstorm will take over while I'm gone. If I'm not back three dawns after the next Gathering, you must take Brackenfur to the Moonpool so that he can be made a proper leader in my place."

Leafpool blinked at him. He talked of his own death so easily, as if he wasn't frightened at all. As if it could really happen...she shivered. What would ThunderClan do without Firestar?

He was watching her, waiting for her response. Leafpool wanted to stand up and yowl at him that this whole thing was mouse-brained, that he couldn't leave his Clan and kin for a cat that may be dead. But she knew that whatever she said wouldn't make a difference, and some part of her inside knew that it wasn't right to argue. It was her Clan leader's decision, and her job to support him.

"Okay," she mewed at last, bowing her head. "But for StarClan's sake, be careful."

Firestar's whiskers twitched. "You sound like Cinderpelt," he meowed, his gaze warm. "You're more like her than you know, Leafpool. She wouldn't be doing anything differently than you are."

Leafpool jerked her head up. "Yes she would!" she meowed fiercely. "Cinderpelt was loyal. Cinderpelt would have never fallen in love with Crowfeather and betrayed ThunderClan. Cinderpelt was a much better medicine cat than I'll ever be."

Firestar padded forward, his nose just brushing her ear. "I wouldn't be so certain," he warned her. "Perhaps Cinderpelt didn't go through the exact same things you did, but it was always her spirit and kindness that kept her going. Just as it is with you, Leafpool."

Leafpool stared at him, suddenly more grateful than she could say. It made her feel guilty that he could sit there and support her, after all she'd done. Still, for the first time in ages, she felt as if the ground was firmly beneath her paws. Firestar trusted her as his medicine cat, and StarClan still watched her.

_I haven't lost everything, even with what I did._

And how could she have been thinking of going back to Crowfeather? Of proving her father and warrior ancestors wrong, by betraying them yet again? How could she, when her Clan needed her so much?

&&&

Leafpool padded behind Sandstorm as the ThunderClan cats made their way to the Gathering. Squirrelflight was just in front of her, talking to their mother as she padded along. Brambleclaw was at her heels, and as she glanced at him Leafpool thought the tabby warrior seemed nervous about something; his tail and ears kept twitching, and his eyes flickered from Squirrelflight to his own paws. Rainwhisker, Thornclaw, Dustpelt, Cloudtail, Ashfur, and his apprentice, Birchpaw, made up the rest of the party. Firestar had made a point of picking strong warriors with wounds that had already healed from the fight with the badgers- he wasn't about to show weakness to the other Clans, especially when he was about to leave. Brook and Stormfur were also here, to meet up with friends in other Clans before they left the next day.

The medicine cat's paws prickled. Firestar would be making the announcement about him leaving tonight, once the Gathering was over, and Brook and Stormfur would escort him to the mountains the following morning. What would her Clanmates' reactions be? She knew that some cats would support Firestar without question, but some cats would think his whole idea was mousebrained. Firestar was known for doing things differently than most other forest cats- and not all of ThunderClan was pleased about that.

_It's not as if they could stop him, _Leafpool reminded herself. _He's the Clan leader._

_But what happens when he's gone?_

Living in a leaderless Clan frightened her, especially so soon after the badger attack. What if something else came up? They _needed _Firestar. But Graystripe needed him too.

_Oh, StarClan, _Leafpool thought desperately. _I don't know what's right._

"Leafpool!"

Leafpool shook her head, realizing that Squirrelflight was calling her. Her sister's green eyes were worried. "What's up, Leafpool? You look frightened."

"It's nothing..." Leafpool trailed off, and then realized she could actually tell her sister this time what was troubling her. As they crossed the log to the Gathering island she dropped her voice and fell into step with Squirrelflight. "It's Firestar. He told me today...he's leaving the Clan to look for Graystripe."

"_What_?" Squirrelflight hissed. "Has he gone completely mousebrained? He can't! Not not! Not when-"

She cut herself off abruptly, but not before Leafpool had seen her gaze slide momentarily to Brambleclaw, who had cleared the log ahead of them and was setting off across the island. The medicine cat blinked at her sister. "You don't think Brambleclaw would try anything? I know he's ambitious, Squirrelflight- but taking over the Clan? Firestar was his mentor!"

"You never know." Squirrelflight's tail twitched. "It's just- he's so different now, Leafpool. And he spends all his time hanging around with Hawkfrost. And no cat can say that Hawkfrost has never tried taking over the forest."

Leafpool felt the fur on her shoulders bristle when she heard the RiverClan tabby's name. She didn't like Hawkfrost any more than Squirrelflight, but it was hard to think of Brambleclaw, the cat that had led the journey to save the Clans, trying to take over ThunderClan.

"There's nothing I can do to persuade Firestar to stay," she meowed hopelessly. "He's leaving tomorrow, and giving an announcement to ThunderClan tonight. He wants to be back within the next moon, so the other Clans might not even realize that he's gone."

Squirrelflight's eyes narrowed, but at that moment Leafpool heard Mothwing's voice, "Leafpool!" She lifted her head and spotted the golden tabby a few foxlengths away, with the other medicine cats. "Leafpool, are you coming?"

Leafpool looked back at Squirrelflight, but her sister shook her head. "Go on," she meowed. "You have to do your medicine cat stuff. And besides, this probably isn't the best place to talk about this." She shot a suspicious look at Hawkfrost, who was now meeting Brambleclaw near the island's shore. As always, Leafpool was struck with how alike the two tabbies were, with the same height and muscular frame. Though their eyes were different colors, there was the same dark light in them, a kind of gleam that Leafpool had never noticed before.

Squirrelflight waved her tail in farewell, setting off in the opposite direction from Brambleclaw to meet with Tawnypelt, Russetfur, and a few other ShadowClan cats, who gave her friendly nods. Leafpool's ears flicked with wonder to think of ShadowClan cats being so kind to any cat- but then, if a cat had told her several moons ago that ShadowClan were going to accept ThunderClan's help in chasing out kittypets, she would have said they were mousebrained.

"Flightpaw's just been telling us about the yarrow plants she found in WindClan territory," meowed Mothwing as Leafpool approached. The tiny she-cat, looking even more dwarfed by the adult cats all around her, gave a leap at the sound of her name, but when Barkface nodded encouragingly she began to describe the hollow where the yarrow grew.

"And of course you know what yarrow does," mewed Mothwing certainly, twitching her whiskers down at Flightpaw. The apprentice nodded quickly. "You can give it to cats to expel poison."

"That's right," Barkface purred, while Leafpool blinked approvingly at Mothwing. The RiverClan she-cat was good with young cats- already Flightpaw was looking more confident, her dark amber eyes curious as she listened to Littlecloud and Barkface discuss the past leaf-bare sicknesses. Mothwing watched her fondly, and suddenly Leafpool remembered Willowkit, a RiverClan kit who had been a help to Mothwing when many cats had fallen ill because of Twoleg poison.

But how could Mothwing ever become a mentor, when she couldn't pass on the ways to interpret StarClan dreams to an apprentice? Leafpool sighed. Between Mothwing, Crowfeather, Firestar, Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, it seemed like she'd never have a time when she couldn't worry. She turned her head away from the medicine cats' conversation, and as she did so she caught the gleam of a pair of familiar blue eyes. Crowfeather padded out of the shadows, beckoning her with his tail. "Can I speak with you, Leafpool?"

Leafpool cast a nervous glance back at her fellow medicine cats. Mothwing's gaze was mischievious and Littlecloud's determinedly neutral, but Barkface's eyes were wide with disapproval as he looked from Leafpool to Crowfeather. He cleared his throat. "Onestar has told you that you aren't to speak with Leafpool," he meowed.

"I know." Crowfeather's fur bristled ever so slightly, and he flashed the WindClan medicine cat a defiant glance. "It will only be for a moment."

Leafpool got to her paws. "It's okay," she meowed to no one in particular, and followed Crowfeather away from the other medicine cats. He made as if he was going to head for a secluded clump of bushes, but Leafpool steered him towards the very center of the island, near the tree where the leaders gathered. Cats were thronging all around, looking for places to sit. Crowfeather tipped his head to one side, but he didn't argue as he sat down across from Leafpool. "You look better," he mewed. "I hope Squirrelflight didn't give you any trouble when she ran into us. If she did-"

"She didn't," Leafpool meowed curtly. Her heart was beating very fast as she struggled to hide the emotion inside her, but she managed to keep her voice calm. "What did you want to ask me about?"

Crowfeather's eyes widened. "I just thought you might want to talk," he replied, sounding confused. "And did you tell Firestar about your dream?"

"Yes," meowed Leafpool. "He knows. Everything's all right now. Is that all?"

She wanted desperately to get away from Crowfeather. Her eyes kept glancing through the crowd, wondering what cats were thinking as they saw them together. Did they think she wasn't a fit medicine cat? What if it got back to Squirrelflight or Firestar? What did her own Clan think? Would they trust her even less now?

Crowfeather kept trying to catch her eye, but she looked carefully away from him. Finally he sighed. "Something's wrong, Leafpool. I can tell."

"I already told you, everything's fine," Leafpool mewed. She lowered her voice. "Why are you asking to talk to me, anyway? We can't see each other anymore- especially not in the middle of a Gathering."

Crowfeather got to his paws, his eyes narrowing. "I just thought-"

"And Barkface is going to tell Onestar, you know that, right? He's not going to trust you!"

"I don't care what Onestar thinks!" Crowfeather hissed. "I care about _you_, Leafpool...but you're acting like that doesn't even matter!"

Leafpool felt a lump form in her throat as a wave of sorrow washed over her, her mouth opening instinctively to disagree, but then she remembered the pride in Firestar's eyes, just this morning. How could she let him down? And all of ThunderClan, too?

"It _can't _matter, Crowfeather. I can't tell you things, I can't see you...not anymore. ThunderClan needs me, I'm their only medicine cat now. I'm sorry, I wish it was different. But it's not."

For a few heartbeats she thought her paws weren't going to hold her up, but then she steadied herself and set off through the throng of cats, back to where Mothwing and the others were waiting. The meows around her blended together into a kind of faint buzzing in her ears, and though she never looked back once, she knew that all she would see if she did was Crowfeather, staring blankly after her.


	10. Chapter 9

**This may or may not be the last chapter, since the real Sunset comes out in THREE DAYS, WOOT. I'll see if I can get the next one out in time, but I probably won't continue this fic after the real Sunset comes out. Maybe I'll do a Power of Three one, depending on what we know about it based on Sunset. **

**Also, Shellpaw, I'd love to reply, but you didn't leave me an email address to reply to!**

**Bramble's POV:**

"Yes, but what did he mean?" Brambleclaw tucked his tail nervously around his paws. "Something big is coming? What?"

"If we needed to know, our father would have told us," Hawkfrost replied patiently. He was sitting across from Brambleclaw on the outskirts of the island, where their conversation was sure not to be overheard. The RiverClan warrior's bright blue eyes were calm. "I suppose we'll know when the time comes. And we must be ready then."

Brambleclaw nodded, though his fur was bristling. He hadn't been able to forget his most recent dream with Tigerstar lately. He had hoped that speaking to Hawkfrost about it would have helped, but his half-brother didn't seem at all bothered by what had happened.

"What do you think he meant, though?" Brambleclaw pressed. "Danger? Or just some great change? I don't know how much more change I could stand, what with the new forest and all."

"I could do with some changes," Hawkfrost growled. His head was turning, and when Brambleclaw followed his gaze he saw he was watching Mistyfoot, the RiverClan deputy, who was standing with a group of other cats. Hawkfrost twitched his tail in her direction. "She's too soft," he meowed, very quietly so that only Brambleclaw could hear. "She thinks more of keeping everyone happy than what RiverClan needs. If she ever became leader we'd all starve waiting for her to decide which hunting grounds didn't belong to the foxes and badgers, first."

Brambleclaw's ears twitched. Hawkfrost's voice was carefully disapproving, not menacing, but he couldn't help thinking that Mistyfoot was Bluestar, the former ThunderClan leader's daughter, and a much more experienced warrior than his brother was. But did that make her a better deputy? He didn't know.

"What would you do in her place?" he found himself asking.

Hawkfrost lifted his head. "First off there'd be more border patrols," he meowed. "And I wouldn't let cats from other Clans enter our territory, either. Did you know that Mistyfoot persuaded Leopardstar to keep letting Barkface come into our swamps to get healing herbs?"

Brambleclaw blinked. "Barkface is a medicine cat," he pointed out. "The rules are different for him- and besides, it isn't as if he'd be planning an invasion."

"He should still follow the warrior code," Hawkfrost replied. "And who knows what WindClan is doing now? I agree that StarClan wanted Onestar as WindClan leader- they've proven that. But he's an unstable leader, isn't he? Didn't you say that a heartbeat after the battle with Mudclaw he was refusing to acknowledge ThunderClan's help?"

"Yes." The memory of that meeting still stung Brambleclaw- Onestar had acted as if Firestar, who had always been one of his closest allies, hadn't ever come to his aid. "You're right. Maybe-"

He broke off as he heard cats crashing through the undergrowth towards them. A moment later Brook and Stormfur appeared. The former RiverClan tom raised his tail in greeting. "Hello, Brambleclaw, Hawkfrost." He nodded to his old Clanmate. "How's the prey running in the new territory?"

"As good as it used to be," Hawkfrost answered. He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Brambleclaw said you were visiting ThunderClan territory. Are you staying there permanently?"

"No." Stormfur exchanged a look with Brook that Brambleclaw didn't understand. "We'll be leaving soon, but we thought we'd see some friends at the Gathering before we did. Do you know where Crowfeather is?"

"I haven't seen him tonight," Brambleclaw meowed, "but I'll help you look for him." He was curious to see the WindClan warrior again after his affair with Leafpool. He still couldn't believe that the two had run away together. He certainly couldn't think of a more unlikely pair- and what about Feathertail? Brambleclaw had thought Crowfeather had been damaged beyond repair at her death.

The ThunderClan cat looked back towards Hawkfrost, but his half-brother shook his head. "You go ahead. I'll see you later." He nodded, and then set off in another direction. Stormfur looked after him. "That cat's always been too ambitious for his own good," he commented quietly.

Brambleclaw turned on him, feeling his claws unsheathe. "He only wants the best for his Clan," he meowed sharply. "And that whole thing with Mudclaw, that wasn't Hawkfrost's idea-"

"Calm down Brambleclaw, I didn't mean anything by it." Stormfur put his tail on his old friend's shoulder, a comforting gesture. "I only knew Hawkfrost when he was a new warrior, after all. He was bound to be more ambitious then."

Brambleclaw looked into the Tribe cat's yellow eyes for a long moment before he nodded, though his claws didn't slide back into their sheathes. It bothered him greatly that Stormfur knew how ambitious Hawkfrost was, and not just for his half-brother's sake. Was it that obvious in himself, too? Could Squirrelflight see it? And what about Firestar?

"Crowfeather!" Stormfur's sudden meow shook Brambleclaw out of his thoughts. He looked up to see the gray-black WindClan tom staggering across the clearing. He wasn't moving in a straight line, and though he lifted his head at the sound of his name, his gaze was dazed and confused, as if he didn't recognize who the speaker was, or didn't care. Then he realized who it was.

"Stormfur?" He leaped towards the former RiverClan cat, his tail raising in greeting. "Have you come back? Tribe life too difficult for you?"

"I'm only visiting, I'm afraid," mewed Stormfur, twitching his whiskers. "Graystripe was sighted in the mountains and I came with Brook to tell Firestar."

Crowfeather nodded, but he didn't ask anything more on the subject. Brambleclaw stared at him. The Crowfeather he knew would have been a lot more interested by this information, if only because it may help WindClan in some way. What was wrong with Crowfeather? Was it the effect of his relationship with Leafpool? Or- and Brambleclaw's eyes narrowed- was he still in contact with the medicine cat, and she had told him everything about Graystripe already?

He turned his head, scanning the crowd for Squirrelflight's sister. He found her sitting with the other medicine cats, talking to Mothwing. Her back was to him, so he couldn't see her expression, but she was gesturing energetically with her tail as she spoke, certainly looking more alive than he'd seen her in a moon. Because she'd seen Crowfeather tonight?

He wanted very much to cross the clearing to confront her about it, but he knew that all he'd earn for that was a reprimand from Firestar- the Clan leader was still careful towards his daughter these days, thinking she was still fragile from her failed relationship. Not to mention what Squirrelflight would do to him if she found out he'd been interrogating her sister...Brambleclaw shook his head, deciding it wasn't worth it.

Stormfur's wide yellow eyes were on Crowfeather. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Crowfeather jerked his head up. "Why wouldn't I be?" he demanded roughly. "I'm not an apprentice anymore, you know. I don't need you looking after me."

"I wasn't trying to," Stormfur retorted hotly, betraying the dislike for Crowfeather he had tried to bury, ever since Feathertail had died. Brook laid her tail against his shoulder and the tom took a breath. "Where's Tawnypelt?" he asked. "I'd hoped to see her, too."

"I thought I'd recognized that pelt." The cheerful meow came from somewhere behind Brambleclaw, and he wheeled to see Tawnypelt, striding across the clearing to touch noses with Stormfur. She purred. "It's good to see that you haven't fallen off a cliff yet- though I've heard from Squirrelflight that you aren't staying for good."

Stormfur shook his head. "Brook and I leave for the mountains again tomorrow," he meowed.

Brambleclaw's ears shot up at this unexpected news. "Firestar hasn't-" he began, but Stormfur widened his eyes at him. "You'll hear the rest tonight," he promised.

Brambleclaw wanted to press for more information, but at that moment Blackstar's yowl rang across the clearing, and he sat down beside Tawnypelt as the leaders began the Gathering. None of them had interesting news- only a few new apprentices, and the first newleaf litter of kits in WindClan. Firestar came up last, and as he saw his leader vault to the highest tree branch to give his news, Brambleclaw thought that he raised his head and tail particularly high- to prove that ThunderClan hadn't been weakened by the badger attack, he thought.

"Almost a moon ago now," Firestar meowed, "badgers invaded ThunderClan territory, intending to drive all four Clans out. We fought them, but we still would have lost if it had not been for WindClan and Midnight the badger, who came to warn us and then to fight alongside us." He nodded at Onestar beside him, who raised his head proudly. Brambleclaw felt his claws unsheathe, sinking into the ground. Did Firestar really have to make it sound as if ThunderClan couldn't have managed at all without WindClan's assistance?

"Also, directly after the fight, we were visited by Brook and Stormfur of the Tribe of Rushing Water," Firestar continued. "They have stayed with us for the past moon, and are visiting friends in other Clans tonight. They will depart for their own home soon."

He dipped his head, sweeping his tail to break up the formal part of the Gathering- with no mention of Graystripe, Brambleclaw noted. He suddenly remembered the possibility of Firestar leaving to find his friend. Was that why he hadn't announced Brook and Stormfur's true reason for coming? He didn't want the other Clans to think he might be leaving to find his deputy?

"That was a short Gathering," Tawnypelt meowed, falling into a stretch before springing up to touch noses with her brother, and then Stormfur. She wrapped her tail affectionately about the gray cat's neck, and blinked in a friendly way at Brook. "It was good of you to stop by to see the Clans' new home. You know we couldn't have found it without you, right?"

Stormfur dipped his head, scuffing his paws on the ground. "It's more thanks to Feathertail than me," he murmured, and Brambleclaw saw Crowfeather flinch at the she-cat's name. His confusion about the WindClan tom deepened even further. Clearly Crowfeather hadn't moved on from Feathertail...but what about Leafpool? He had been willing to leave the Clans with her. Did that mean he was slowly getting over his first love, or just feeling even guiltier about her death?

Tawnypelt flicked her tail once more in farewell, and then padded back in the direction of the other ShadowClan cats. Crowfeather waited until she had disappeared, and then dipped his head wordlessly and made to turn away. The former RiverClan warrior darted forward, intercepting him and leaning down to touch noses, mewing a few words that Brambleclaw couldn't hear. Crowfeather gave Stormfur a long, measured look, and then stalked away.

Stormfur looked after Crowfeather for a moment, his eyes reflecting his sorrow. "I don't know if there's anything we can do for him," he meowed softly.

Brook touched his muzzle with her nose. "He is strong," she mewed. "Strong to have survived within the Tribe, and strong to have survived among the Clans."

Though Brambleclaw nodded in agreement, he doubted whether Crowfeather's physical strength would be enough to carry him through all this. How could he have been so stupid, to fall into two forbidden loves?

"ThunderClan!"

The tabby warrior heard Firestar's yowl and turned his head to see him and Sandstorm standing in the middle of the crowd, cats of their Clan slowly gathering around them. Brambleclaw leaped up to join them, Brook and Stormfur behind him. On the way he saw Leafpool, mewing a good-bye to Mothwing and padding over to her father. Brambleclaw narrowed his eyes and increased his pace, wondering if he could find some way to ask her about Crowfeather now. Before he had a chance, however, Squirrelflight crossed diagonally in front of him to meet her sister, her pawsteps deliberately slow as she passed Brambleclaw. She pressed her shoulder against Leafpool's and walked the rest of the way towards Firestar with her. The look she threw over her shoulder at Brambleclaw was cold and calculating, and he felt his claws unsheathe. What had he done to tweak her tail tonight?

_She must have seen me with Hawkfrost._

Firestar began to lead the rest of ThunderClan across the log and back towards their camp. The pace he set was quick, Brambleclaw thought, and his head swiveled constantly from side to side, as if he were searching for something. Several times he turned completely around, his eyes meeting Stormfur's as something Brambleclaw couldn't understand was conveyed between them.

The tabby's heart gave a sudden jolt as he remembered: _Brook and I leave for the mountains tomorrow. _Was that why Firestar was looking so nervous? He was finally giving up his last chance of rescuing Graystripe? Or could it be that he really was planning to go with them?

_He can't be. _All the way back to camp, Brambleclaw struggled with several different emotions. There was a part of him that wanted to run to Firestar and beg him to stay, as if he were a kit again. How could ThunderClan survive without its leader? And yet, what happened when- if- Firestar did leave? Ambition made Brambleclaw's fur bristle with anticipation. What if he was put in charge of camp? A temporary deputy, so that if Firestar came back without Graystripe he would see how worthy Brambleclaw was?

"Hi." Brambleclaw jumped, and it was several heartbeats before he recognized Rainwhisker beside him, and managed to stammer a reply. Rainwhisker blinked at him. "You look as if you've just been told you're leading the patrol to find the badgers again," he commented. "What's wrong?"

"You'll see," Brambleclaw mumbled, his eyes on Firestar. They had just passed through the thorn entrance, and instead of leaping up the Highledge to his den as he usually did, Firestar settled himself on the rocky peak and called out the familiar summons for a Clan meeting. The cats coming back from the Gathering settled themselves in the clearing, craning their necks up at their leader curiously, while the warriors that hadn't attended appeared from their dens, yawning and blinking sleep out of their eyes. Goldenflower appeared out of the elders' den, leading Longtail, while Mousefur followed them, a grumpy expression on her face.

"All of ShadowClan better be charging straight for our camp," she muttered. "What's Firestar thinking, waking elders from sound sleep in the middle of the night...?"

"It's important," Stormfur assured her, from where he and Brook sat at the edge of the group. Brambleclaw looked after him, his suspicions confirmed. How else could Stormfur know about this?

"Do you know what Firestar called the meeting for?" Rainwhisker hissed in his ear. "Did something happen at the Gathering? ShadowClan, maybe? I thought Blackstar looked a bit shifty..."

Brambleclaw's whiskers twitched humorlessly. "It's worse than Blackstar," he whispered back, and then turned his head as Firestar cleared his throat, pricking his ears as his leader spoke.

"You all know that Brook and Stormfur came to the Clans almost a moon ago, with news of finding Graystripe in the mountains." As he spoke he turned his head, meeting every cat's eyes in turn. When he looked at Brambleclaw that dark tabby stared determinedly back at him, trying and failing to see some fear or even apprehension in his leader's eyes.

"I asked them to remain with us in ThunderClan while I considered what to do," Firestar went on. "And now I've come to my decision."

He paused, and Brambleclaw could hear the intake of breath from the cats all around him and see the fur bristling along their spines, waiting for his next words. Firestar lifted his tail, and his eyes were on Silverpelt above him when he announced, "I am going to travel back to the mountains with Stormfur and Brook to find my deputy."

Firestar tried to speak again, but his meow was lost over the thundering objections that rose from all around. Cats leaped to their paws, yowling protests, their claws unsheathing in their astonishment. Beside Brambleclaw, Rainwhisker jumped up, his blue eyes very wide. "_What_?" he cried. "He can't just leave ThunderClan!"

On the Highledge Firestar waved his tail, signaling for silence, but the warriors ignored him, still trying to each be heard. Finally he reared up on his hind legs, letting out a caterwaul that shook the stone beneath him. His Clan fell back; their mouths still open as they were drowned out mid-word.

"Silence!" Firestar hissed. "I am not leaving ThunderClan for good- I chose to leave tonight so that I have as much time as possible between now and the next Gathering. With a bit of luck the other Clans won't even know that I'm gone. Brackenfur and Sandstorm will be joint leaders in my absence."

_Brackenfur and Sandstorm. _Brambleclaw couldn't conceal the disappointment that slammed him from the side. He was not to be one of the cats in charge while Firestar wasn't here. Some rational part of him had been expecting that, but he still felt his heart plummet. He was not Firestar's most trusted warrior, and certainly not the next in line to be deputy.

"But we are still weak from the badger attack!" Mousefur meowed hotly. "What chance will we stand against an attack without our leader?"

"The only good thing that came from the Twoleg invasion was that the Clans grew closer," Firestar replied. "There have been no battles within the Clans since Mudclaw's death, and it will most likely stay that way through the next moon."

"Fat chance of that, with Hawkfrost still prowling around," Ashfur meowed, unnecessarily loudly, to Spiderleg. The black tom's eyes narrowed spitefully in Brambleclaw's direction as he nodded. White-hot anger replaced the disappointment inside Brambleclaw, but Rainwhisker spoke before he could.

"I don't think you should leave, Firestar," he meowed up at the Highledge, his eyes wide with innocence. "I'm worried about Ashfur- once he steps outside the camp and the hedgehogs get a whiff of him, I don't think they'll be able to hold back."

Ashfur glared at the gray tom as _mrrows _of laughter broke the tension in the crowd and Brambleclaw nudged his friend gratefully.

"I still don't know about this, Firestar," Longtail meowed, ignoring the younger toms' argument. "What do the senior warriors think? And Leafpool?"

Heads turned towards the young medicine cat, crouched in Cinderpelt's old place just beneath the Highledge. For the first time, Brambleclaw thought, since the badger attack, Leafpool didn't start at the sound of her own name. Instead she pricked her ears, her amber eyes gleaming with moonlight. "I agree, ThunderClan will be weakened with our leader gone," she meowed. "But no cat can expect Firestar to leave his deputy to die, not after all Graystripe has done for his Clan. My own life was saved in the fight with the Twolegs that we lost him in. And after all-" and she lifted her gaze to her father, staring down at her- "if things were reversed, and Firestar was the one the Clan had lost, Graystripe would do anything to rescue him. How can we ask Firestar not to do the same?"

There was a moment of stunned silence as her words echoed through the hollow- no doubt that was the most any cat had heard Leafpool say since her days as an apprentice. Then Goldenflower nodded. "Firestar is doing the right thing," she mewed.

"And ThunderClan can last a moon without a leader," Dustpelt growled. "We are strong enough."

Brambleclaw heard murmurs of agreement and shuffled his paws thoughtfully. He knew that Leafpool was right- no cat was going to be able to change Firestar's mind now that he'd made his choice. And he was doing the right thing, wasn't he?

_Yes, for himself, _whispered a voice inside Brambleclaw. _But for ThunderClan? Is he doing what is best for ThunderClan?_

Firestar's tail twitched as he looked down from the Highledge. "Are there any more protests?" he asked.

There was a pause before Mousefur spoke. "What happens if you can't find Graystripe?" she meowed, almost hesitantly, as if afraid of her leader's reaction, but Firestar only nodded his head calmly. "Then we must give him up as dead," he replied. "ThunderClan will mourn him, but I will return and announce a new deputy."

"And if you don't come back?" Brambleclaw heard his own voice asking, but couldn't believe that he had dared. Rainwhisker turned to stare at him in shock, and a ripple of fear passed through the gathered ThunderClan cats. Firestar gazed down at him for a long moment before he answered. "If I am not back in two moons, then Brackenfur will travel to the Moonpool with Leafpool to be made a proper leader," he meowed.

The ginger tom started nervously at Firestar's words, but it was only a heartbeat before he lifted his head determinedly, blinking over at Sorreltail and his four kits sitting around her.

"Firestar," Stormfur broke in. "If we are to make it back to the Cave of Rushing Water by next sunset, we will have to leave now."

The flame-colored tom nodded. "All right."

Firestar leaped from stone to stone to the floor of the stone hollow. His movements seemed slow to Brambleclaw, and as the cats parted to let him through, he paused by several of them, brushing his face against Sandstorm's, giving each of his daughters a lick on the head, and resting his tail-tip on Brackenfur's shoulder for a moment. When he reached Brambleclaw the dark tabby gave a start of surprise as he leaned in to touch noses.

"You are a brave warrior, Brambleclaw," Firestar meowed quietly. "You saved the Clans once. Use everything you learned on that journey to defend ThunderClan now."

Brambleclaw stared into Firestar's green eyes and saw the sorrow and certainty there. For the first time he thought he might understand Firestar's decision to rescue Graystripe.

"I will, Firestar," he mewed. "I'll give my life for ThunderClan, if I have to."

"Let's hope you won't have to," Firestar replied as he moved on. Stormfur dipped his head to his father's friend as he reached him, and Brook gave the odd respectful gesture of the Tribe cats, extending one paw with her head down.

"Stoneteller was told by the Tribe of Endless Hunting that we may return home with help," she meowed. "Though he did not think that they meant help in finding your Tribemate."

"StarClan is difficult to understand sometimes, too," Firestar meowed, and Brook nodded, turning around and sliding through the thorn barrier. Stormfur followed, waving his tail to the ThunderClan cats one last time, and then finally Firestar, who gazed around his Clan's home for a long while before he followed the two Tribe cats.

For a while the cats of ThunderClan watched where their leader had disappeared, and then they began to depart for their dens to sleep away what was left of the night. But Brambleclaw did not move. He knew he couldn't sleep, and he didn't want to dream, for fear of what the jumbled thoughts in his mind might appear to him as in sleep. He did not want to visit Tigerstar tonight, not when Firestar's praise was still warm inside him.

He thought he was alone, but then he felt fur brush his shoulder. Brambleclaw jumped and turned his head to see Leafpool. Her wide amber eyes were sad- but then Brambleclaw felt a touch on his other shoulder. He turned, though he already knew by scent who it was.

Squirrelflight's head was bowed, and her ginger fur was dusky gray in the moonlight. Brambleclaw didn't know if she had even realized that she was leaning against him. Perhaps she didn't care.

"He'll be safe," Leafpool whispered. Her eyes were closed as she lifted her head, as if to pray to StarClan.

"He has to be," Squirrelflight mewed. "What will ThunderClan do without him?"


End file.
